Indigenous Brazilian culture and history reduced to ashes

Sep 15, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
It was a sad day for those who love to research and admire artefacts, documents and artworks, to witness them reduced to ashes on September 2 at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. The destruction of indigenous artefacts and research documents, including relics of tribes that are considered extinct, represented a far more personal blow for the descendants of Brazil’s oldest inhabitants, who have spent decades fighting to preserve their heritage and ancestral lands.
The museum contained a collection of thousands of indigenous artefacts pertaining to hundreds of ethnic groups. This collection gave insight into understanding indigenous roots. It has given the indigenous people identify in the national and international arena.
Having lived in Brazil and in Aishalton, my heart goes out to the indigenous people who painstakingly try to uphold their ancient culture and history. I appreciate the hard work and commitment that some people display to safeguard the identity of indigenous people through artefacts and documents of yesteryear.
The collection of these artefacts and documents can empower their fight for identity and lands. When this is all gutted in the fire, what is left of them now? There is only ash left of it at the smouldering museum ground.
As I sympathize with everyone who has felt the loss of the museum in Brazil, I wish to appeal to everyone to be extra careful in safeguarding the ancient artefacts and documents especially that of our indigenous people.
These ancestral properties could give great and significant insight into the culture, history, language and importantly identity of those people in our contemporary world.
Jerri Melwin Dias

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