Bonecas Ritxoko e sua indumentária em museus: um balanço do Projeto Presença Karajá

We present in this work part of the results of the research project Presença Karajá: material culture, colonial patterns and transits. Its objectives include mapping, identifying and analyzing collections of Karajá dolls (ritxoko) present in collections of Brazilian and foreign museums in order to reconstituting the trajectory of collections formation, researchers- institutions and Karajá indigenous groups networking, as well as studying dolls’ body adornments and clothing. Among our objectives are: to compare artifacts and their museological documentation, contributing with museological institutions in the improvement of the already registered information; to contribute to the diffusion of collections of Karajá dolls present in museums in Brazil and abroad; to stimulate the development of new researches and museological communication projects (exhibitions and educational-cultural action) in order to comply with the Recommendation on the Protection and Promotion of Museums and Collections of UNESCO (2015); and finally, to relate the historical alterations of the costumes in the dolls, such as the insertion of industrialized fabrics, trying to remove the indigenous production of the “ethnic” niche in the museums. We hope that the emphasis given to the collections little or never studied in their museums of origin will produce knowledge that bases exhibitions, educational actions and other forms of exhibition of the collections to the public. The project is the result of joint actions of two Brazilian Research Groups: GEMINTER (Group of Study and Research in Museology and Interdisciplinarity) and INDUMENTA: dress and textile studies in Brazil.