This paper explores some of the challenges and
benefits involved in the collaboration between
the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of
the University of São Paulo, the India Vanuire
Historical and Pedagogical Museum, and the
Kaingang people of Vanuire, as well as some of
the outcomes of these partnerships, such as the
creation of the Kaingang Wowkriwig Museum.
These experiences showed that working in collaboration
with indigenous groups can be mutually
beneficial and rewarding. The benefits include
opportunities to empower the Kaingang
to create and manage their own museums, and
to exchange more effective preservation strategies,
information about manufacturing technologies,
as well as the original use and significance
of objects. Moreover, the significance of objects
whose value had diminished was revived by
the new perspectives brought about by these
inclusive approaches. The paper concludes that
many other museums can act as agents of these
processes but a prerequisite is a reconsideration
of their relationships with indigenous groups
and how the past can be redressed
