Construction and Disputes in the Museology Field in Brazil: The Northeastern Forums (1988 – 1996)

Abstract

Between the years 1988 and 1996 the Northeastern Museology Forums were held. This irruption
movement, which denounces a rupture with the museology practiced by part of the southern region of
the country, produced the Manifests and an array of papers that document the memory of eight
northeastern Museology meetings. Throughout those, it was possible to investigate how the assertion
and recognition relations between the Northeast and Southeast have happened in the sociological
construction of the Brazilian Museology field. Using discourse analysis as a methodology resource, I
problematized the Brazilian museology field and its narrative, as well as investigated the production and
participation of northeastern agents in the construction of the scientific and cultural fields in Brazil. The
hypothesis, which was confirmed, was that in the dispute for scientific capital, there were actions that
dimmed the importance of the northeastern achievements, culminating in the erasing of research papers
from UFBA, FUNDAJ, and other museum institutions of the Northeast in the consolidation of the field.
Keywords: field, museology in Brazil, internal colonialism, northeastern, northeastern museology forums.