Benoît de L'Estoile | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research (original) (raw)
Papers in English by Benoît de L'Estoile
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie Sociale, 2015
Histoire de l'art et musées, 2005
Based on a long-term ethnography in state-run settlement projects on former sugarcane plantations... more Based on a long-term ethnography in state-run settlement projects on former sugarcane plantations in Northeast Brazil, in this paper I question the evidence of “the economy” as a privileged framework for understanding the life situation of the poor, which is structured by precariousness and uncertainty about the future. Exploring the polysemy of Portuguese esperar (to wait, to hope, and to expect), it analyzes the plurality of orientations to the future among former sugarcane wage workers included as beneficiaries in land reform projects and their strategies to mitigate uncertainty in various configurations. If radical uncertainty lies out of human hands, relative uncertainty may be acted on by mobilizing people. While money is desirable, it has a transitory character, and the value of friends lies in their potential to help, especially in case of a crisis. Ethnography thus suggests moving beyond an “economic anthropology” that aims to analyze “other economies” and set out to explore the fields of opportunities and frames of reference that structure life situations and the local versions of oikonomia in its original meaning of “government of the household.”
Social Science Information, 1997
This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the product... more This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the production of anthropological knowledge. It analyses the links between the projects of directed social transformation in “backward” societies that characterize the program of “development” since the 1920s, and the emergence of a discipline aiming at a scientific understanding of these societies. A reconstruction of the process of autonomization of British social anthropology in Africa during the interwar period thus offers at the same time a genealogy of the uses of anthropology in development. It is argued that, instead of viewing the relationship between anthropology and the colonial administration as an alternative between instrumentalization or independence, it is more fruitful to analyse it as structured by both common interests in producing knowledge about colonized societies and a competition between academic specialists and “practical men”. The “professionalization” of social anthropology and its institutionalization as an academic discipline then appears as a process of construction of a monopoly of competence on non-western social phenomena.
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie sociale, 2008
Journal of the World Anthropologies Network, Apr 2008
Social Anthropology, 2007
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie Sociale, 2008
Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European Imperialism, & Disciplinary Development
Papers by Benoît de L'Estoile
Social Science Information, 1997
This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the product... more This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the production of anthropological knowledge. It analyses the links between the projects of directed social transformation in “backward” societies that characterize the program of “development” since the 1920s, and the emergence of a discipline aiming at a scientific understanding of these societies. A reconstruction of the process of autonomization of British social anthropology in Africa during the interwar period thus offers at the same time a genealogy of the uses of anthropology in development. It is argued that, instead of viewing the relationship between anthropology and the colonial administration as an alternative between instrumentalization or independence, it is more fruitful to analyse it as structured by both common interests in producing knowledge about colonized societies and a competition between academic specialists and “practical men”. The “professionalization” of social anthropolo...
Ethnologie française, 2008
Cahiers du Brésil contemporain, 2000
Le moment où nous arrivons à Rio Formoso, en septembre 1997, est caractérisé, pour l'ensemble de ... more Le moment où nous arrivons à Rio Formoso, en septembre 1997, est caractérisé, pour l'ensemble de ceux que nous rencontrons, par le sentiment d'une transformation rapide, voire de bouleversements : c'est le thème qui domine les discours à la fois du patron d'engenho (plantation) chez qui nous sommes logés, du maire, des leaders paysans, des administrateurs d'usine, mais aussi des moradores d'engenho ou des occupants des campements 1. La monoculture de la canne à sucre, qui dominait la région depuis les débuts de la colonisation au XVI e siècle, semble menacée de s'effondrer, entraînant une grave crise de l'emploi agricole. La grande propriété foncière paraît remise en cause par les débuts d'une "réforme agraire" qui semble enfin sur le point de se réaliser, avec la multiplication des campements dans les engenhos. Enfin, de grands projets, liés à un financement international, prévoient la reconversion de la région littorale vers le tourisme 2 .
PROA: Revista de Antropologia e Arte, 2011
Entrevista com Benoît de L'Estoile, professor na École Normale Supérieure (Paris).
Page 1. 1 Benoît de L'Estoile Du ... revendiquant une identité alsacienne propre, le musée de... more Page 1. 1 Benoît de L'Estoile Du ... revendiquant une identité alsacienne propre, le musée des Pays de Seine et Marne à Saint-Cyr sur Morin, musée départemental héritier d'une collection d'objets « briards » récoltés par des folkloristes ...
Benoît de L'Estoile Universalism' is, according to standard accounts (e.g. Merton 1973), one of t... more Benoît de L'Estoile Universalism' is, according to standard accounts (e.g. Merton 1973), one of the cardinal values of science. In principle, all of us agree that "science knows no boundaries". In that sense, 'scientific internationalism' is a shared value. However, the common rhetoric of universalism and internationalism may conceal under the same clothe quite different situations in a game where all players are not equal. This begins with inequalities between languages that virtually write off the map large portions of the world's anthropological literature. The international circulation of ideas does not suppress power relations, but may itself have the effect of constructing and reinforcing hierarchies, both internationally and within national spaces. Reflections on non-hegemonic traditions in anthropology frequently take the form of presentations of the field in one or other national context. Thus we have a series of highly interesting accounts of anthropology in… Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, …, Zambia or (New) Zealand, but we are sometimes left with a feeling of embarrassment as to how to bring them together. My aim in this paper is to outline a comparative framework that might serve to place the relationships between different national anthropologies within an international space. International space is not a given, but a product of a process of construction, and there are various forms of internationalization
Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, 2012
Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Bré... more Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Brésil, analyse les façons dont le mythe des « peuples premiers », fournissant aux classes moyennes urbaines l'image romantique de peuples indigènes hors de l'histoire, trouve une incarnation privilégiée dans les photographies des groupes indigènes d'Amazonie, souvent représentés de façon stéréotypée. Ces représentations romantiques présentes dans les médias, les univers artistiques, structurent aussi les catégories de perception et d'interprétation des visiteurs d'expositions, des spectateurs ou des lecteurs, constituant une composante essentielle du succès populaire de l'anthropologie.
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie Sociale, 2015
Histoire de l'art et musées, 2005
Based on a long-term ethnography in state-run settlement projects on former sugarcane plantations... more Based on a long-term ethnography in state-run settlement projects on former sugarcane plantations in Northeast Brazil, in this paper I question the evidence of “the economy” as a privileged framework for understanding the life situation of the poor, which is structured by precariousness and uncertainty about the future. Exploring the polysemy of Portuguese esperar (to wait, to hope, and to expect), it analyzes the plurality of orientations to the future among former sugarcane wage workers included as beneficiaries in land reform projects and their strategies to mitigate uncertainty in various configurations. If radical uncertainty lies out of human hands, relative uncertainty may be acted on by mobilizing people. While money is desirable, it has a transitory character, and the value of friends lies in their potential to help, especially in case of a crisis. Ethnography thus suggests moving beyond an “economic anthropology” that aims to analyze “other economies” and set out to explore the fields of opportunities and frames of reference that structure life situations and the local versions of oikonomia in its original meaning of “government of the household.”
Social Science Information, 1997
This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the product... more This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the production of anthropological knowledge. It analyses the links between the projects of directed social transformation in “backward” societies that characterize the program of “development” since the 1920s, and the emergence of a discipline aiming at a scientific understanding of these societies. A reconstruction of the process of autonomization of British social anthropology in Africa during the interwar period thus offers at the same time a genealogy of the uses of anthropology in development. It is argued that, instead of viewing the relationship between anthropology and the colonial administration as an alternative between instrumentalization or independence, it is more fruitful to analyse it as structured by both common interests in producing knowledge about colonized societies and a competition between academic specialists and “practical men”. The “professionalization” of social anthropology and its institutionalization as an academic discipline then appears as a process of construction of a monopoly of competence on non-western social phenomena.
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie sociale, 2008
Journal of the World Anthropologies Network, Apr 2008
Social Anthropology, 2007
Social Anthropology/ Anthropologie Sociale, 2008
Ordering Africa: Anthropology, European Imperialism, & Disciplinary Development
Social Science Information, 1997
This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the product... more This article focuses on the relationship between practical and cognitive interests in the production of anthropological knowledge. It analyses the links between the projects of directed social transformation in “backward” societies that characterize the program of “development” since the 1920s, and the emergence of a discipline aiming at a scientific understanding of these societies. A reconstruction of the process of autonomization of British social anthropology in Africa during the interwar period thus offers at the same time a genealogy of the uses of anthropology in development. It is argued that, instead of viewing the relationship between anthropology and the colonial administration as an alternative between instrumentalization or independence, it is more fruitful to analyse it as structured by both common interests in producing knowledge about colonized societies and a competition between academic specialists and “practical men”. The “professionalization” of social anthropolo...
Ethnologie française, 2008
Cahiers du Brésil contemporain, 2000
Le moment où nous arrivons à Rio Formoso, en septembre 1997, est caractérisé, pour l'ensemble de ... more Le moment où nous arrivons à Rio Formoso, en septembre 1997, est caractérisé, pour l'ensemble de ceux que nous rencontrons, par le sentiment d'une transformation rapide, voire de bouleversements : c'est le thème qui domine les discours à la fois du patron d'engenho (plantation) chez qui nous sommes logés, du maire, des leaders paysans, des administrateurs d'usine, mais aussi des moradores d'engenho ou des occupants des campements 1. La monoculture de la canne à sucre, qui dominait la région depuis les débuts de la colonisation au XVI e siècle, semble menacée de s'effondrer, entraînant une grave crise de l'emploi agricole. La grande propriété foncière paraît remise en cause par les débuts d'une "réforme agraire" qui semble enfin sur le point de se réaliser, avec la multiplication des campements dans les engenhos. Enfin, de grands projets, liés à un financement international, prévoient la reconversion de la région littorale vers le tourisme 2 .
PROA: Revista de Antropologia e Arte, 2011
Entrevista com Benoît de L'Estoile, professor na École Normale Supérieure (Paris).
Page 1. 1 Benoît de L'Estoile Du ... revendiquant une identité alsacienne propre, le musée de... more Page 1. 1 Benoît de L'Estoile Du ... revendiquant une identité alsacienne propre, le musée des Pays de Seine et Marne à Saint-Cyr sur Morin, musée départemental héritier d'une collection d'objets « briards » récoltés par des folkloristes ...
Benoît de L'Estoile Universalism' is, according to standard accounts (e.g. Merton 1973), one of t... more Benoît de L'Estoile Universalism' is, according to standard accounts (e.g. Merton 1973), one of the cardinal values of science. In principle, all of us agree that "science knows no boundaries". In that sense, 'scientific internationalism' is a shared value. However, the common rhetoric of universalism and internationalism may conceal under the same clothe quite different situations in a game where all players are not equal. This begins with inequalities between languages that virtually write off the map large portions of the world's anthropological literature. The international circulation of ideas does not suppress power relations, but may itself have the effect of constructing and reinforcing hierarchies, both internationally and within national spaces. Reflections on non-hegemonic traditions in anthropology frequently take the form of presentations of the field in one or other national context. Thus we have a series of highly interesting accounts of anthropology in… Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, …, Zambia or (New) Zealand, but we are sometimes left with a feeling of embarrassment as to how to bring them together. My aim in this paper is to outline a comparative framework that might serve to place the relationships between different national anthropologies within an international space. International space is not a given, but a product of a process of construction, and there are various forms of internationalization
Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, 2012
Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Bré... more Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Brésil, analyse les façons dont le mythe des « peuples premiers », fournissant aux classes moyennes urbaines l'image romantique de peuples indigènes hors de l'histoire, trouve une incarnation privilégiée dans les photographies des groupes indigènes d'Amazonie, souvent représentés de façon stéréotypée. Ces représentations romantiques présentes dans les médias, les univers artistiques, structurent aussi les catégories de perception et d'interprétation des visiteurs d'expositions, des spectateurs ou des lecteurs, constituant une composante essentielle du succès populaire de l'anthropologie.
Idées économiques et sociales, 2010
Duke University Press, 2005
Esta publicação reúne textos de diversos autores cujas abordagens representam importantes contrib... more Esta publicação reúne textos de diversos autores cujas abordagens representam importantes contribuições sobre museus e patrimônio: Rosamarie Lucas, Hugues de Varine, Graça Filipe, Dominique Poulot, Julien Bondaz, Cyril Isnart , Anaïs Leblon, Benoît de L’Estoile e Thierry Bonnot.
São textos franceses e um original em português não publicado ainda no Brasil, selecionados por já estarem em uso em nossos cursos de Museologia ou poderem trazer discussões instigantes para esta formação a partir deste esforço de torná-los acessíveis aos estudantes brasileiros, por meio de um verdadeiro mutirão de traduções.
O livro resulta do encontro entre as organizadoras, os diversos autores e pesquisadores envolvidos no trabalho de tradução dos textos, mas também do reencontro e renovada parceria entre o Museu do Homem do Nordeste da Fundação Joaquim Nabuco e o Museu Antropológico da Universidade Federal de Goiás.
O livro está à venda na Editora Massangana, em Recife
Duke University Press
This edited volume is an important contribution to the critique of the politics of anthropologica... more This edited volume is an important contribution to the critique of the politics of anthropological knowledge. As the authors in this volume show, anthropologists have established close relationships with state institutions, and the consequences of their
Journal of Latin American Anthropology, Nov 2006
Journeys. The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing (2007, Vol. 8, no. 1-2, 2007
The editors of this excellent collection of essays write that their aim is to provide ʻa comprehe... more The editors of this excellent collection of essays write that their aim is to provide ʻa comprehensive overview of the relationships between the production of anthropological knowledge, the government of populations, and the building of empires and nation-states, moving beyond the typical and limited responses to these topics as either denunciation or engagement.ʼ Case studies are presented on South Africa, Mexico, French Africa, French Pacific and Vichy France, Brazil, the United States of America as well as on the British Colonial Social Sciences Research Council, and NGOs in Latin America. It is a pity that nothing was included on India and the Middle East (especially Israel), two areas that had their own very special problems in relating state-making to subaltern populations. But one cannot have everything and one should be grateful for a book that explores the question of anthropology and power in such an interesting way. The editors emphasise, quite rightly, that the sciences are never autonomous, that a sharp distinction between usable knowledge and power is invalid. It is by now a well-established fact that even in the natural sciences the practical conditions of research (including funding, laboratories, instruments, etc.), its orientation and social application are strongly connected to the market and the state. This is true also of the human sciences whose connections with social problems are even more direct. However, this doesnʼt mean that the knowledge produced by academic anthropology is always usable for political purposes. We are by now familiar with the critiques of anthropology for having been involved in colonial projects. Here is a slightly hysterical passage written in 1961 by an English professor of African history in which anthropology is criticised for not being involved enough in progressive colonial reform: ʻThe rise of social anthropology did much to foster this attitude [of conservatism]. Previously it had been the hobby of missionaries and officials, who wrote good, clear descriptive prose. Now it attained the status of an established academic subject, equipped with an elaborate and repellent system of jargon; it abandoned general description in favour of detailed analysis of social structure, exploring with fascinated interest the subtle and complex ramifications of tribal organisation, and disdaining to mention such crude, commonplace features of the pre-European order as murder, mutilation, torture, witch-hunting, cattle-raiding, wife-raiding, and in places, cannibalism and human sacrifice. Mrs. Elspeth Huxley has pointed out that just as the shepherd loves his sheep and the enginedriver his locomotive, so the sanitary inspector loves drains … A similar psychological tendency led the anthropologist to become the champion not only of the tribe whose customs he studied, but of its customs themselves.ʼ (Hanna 1961: 22). It should be noted, incidentally, that when academic anthropology was once criticised for having been involved in colonial projects, this was not always based on the assumption of a proper separation between ʻpure scienceʼ and politics but -rightly or wrongly -on the claim that anthropologists should have taken up a more progressive political stand in their work.
Virtual Brazilian Anthropology – VIBRANT
Ethnologie Française, 2008
La fin des deux grands musées d’ethnologie que comptait la France, le Musée de l'Homme et le Musé... more La fin des deux grands musées d’ethnologie que comptait la France, le Musée de l'Homme et le Musée national des Arts et traditions populaires, marque un tournant. Le musée a joué un
rôle structurant pour l’ethnologie française et son projet d’inventaire encyclopédique du monde. Pourtant, dans la pratique ethnographique, le paradigme naturaliste de la collecte a
cédé la place à celui de l’interlocution et de la traduction. L’anthropologie est un savoir, fondé sur une pratique, non de l’altérité, mais de la relation entre mondes différents. Forts de cette
compétence de traducteurs entre mondes, les anthropologues peuvent revendiquer une place dans les musées de demain. L’article évoque également des expériences d’exposition, à partir
d’une enquête ethnographique, en France et au Brésil.
Patrimônios e Museus: Inventando Futuros, 2022
Ruris, 2020
Com base em uma etnografia de longa duração focada em engenhos de cana-de-açúcar que se tornaram ... more Com base em uma etnografia de longa duração focada em engenhos de cana-de-açúcar que se tornaram projetos de assentamento na Zona da Mata de Pernambucoem projetos estatais de assentamento em antigos engenhos de cana-de-açúcar no Nordeste do Brasil, neste artigo eu questiono a evidência da “economia” como uma abordagem privilegiada para a compreensão da situação de vida dos pobres, a qual é estruturada pela precariedade e pela incerteza em relação ao futuro. Explorando a polissemia da palavra portuguesa esperar (aguardar, ter esperança e expectar), oeste artigo analisa a pluralidade de orientações para o futuro deentre antigos trabalhadores assalariados das plantações de cana incluídos como beneficiários em projetos de reforma agrária e suas estratégias para lidar com mitigar a incerteza em diferentes configurações. Se a incerteza radical está fora do alcance humano, a incerteza relativa pode ser alterada por pessoas mobilizadas. Embora o dinheiro seja desejável, ele tem um caráter transitório, e o valor dos amigos reside em seu potencial de ajuda, especialmente em casos de crise. Se a incerteza radical está fora do alcance humano, mobilizar amigos permite agir sobre a incerteza relativa. Assim, a etnografia sugere que nos movamos para além de uma “antropologia econômica” que objetiva analisar “outras economias” e comecemos a exploraremos os campos de oportunidades e os quadros de referência que estruturam situações de vida e as versões locais de oikonomia em seu sentido original de “governo da casa”.
De Acervos Coloniais aos Museus Indígenas: Formas de protagonismo e de construção da ilusão museal,., 2019
in João Pacheco de Oliveira e Rita de Cássia Melo Santos (org.) , Ed. Universidade Federal da Pa... more in João Pacheco de Oliveira e Rita de Cássia Melo Santos (org.) , Ed. Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil
Proa, 2011
Proa: Por muito tempo, os museus foram associados { ideia de preservaç~o do património e vistos c... more Proa: Por muito tempo, os museus foram associados { ideia de preservaç~o do património e vistos como instituições voltadas para o passado. Qual o papel dos museus hoje, numa era em que a virtualidade parece primar sobre a materialidade e na qual as transformações ocorrem de forma t~o acelerada? Benoît: N~o sei se é possível responder falando genericamente em "papel dos museus", j| que a variedade do que essa palavra cobre é muito grande hoje. Eu acho mais fecundo, talvez, nos referirmos a casos específicos. O que definia um museu, tradicionalmente, era o seu acervo. O museu, em princípio, constitui um acervo e sua miss~o é incre-ment|-lo e preserv|-lo. O termo francês conservateur, utilizado em referência ao curador interno de uma instituição museológica, enfatiza justamente esse aspecto de "conservar", salvar as colecções. O objecto material sempre foi fundamental na definiç~o do museu, um lugar voltado { preservaç~o dos tesouros nacionais, regionais ou locais. Nesse sentido, o museu é herdeiro dos antigos tesouros das catedrais e dos pal|cios, e mais tarde dos gabinetes de curiosidades -como a Schatzkammer do palácio Residenz, em Munique, que abriga objectos artificiais e naturais, raridades de ourivesaria, cristais, tapeçarias, etc.
Proa, 2011
Wild animals, dead or alive, cause both fascination and discomfort when displayed in museums and ... more Wild animals, dead or alive, cause both fascination and discomfort when displayed in museums and exhibitions. They have often become a source of doubt for curators. By analyzing the different ways in which wild animals are displayed in museums in Africa, Europe and Brazil, this paper shows how the museum operates as one of the instances of the process of “symbolic domestication” of wildlife, while analyzing some challenges faced by contemporary natural history museums.
O animal selvagem, morto ou vivo, nos museus e exposições, provocam fascinação e desconforto simultaneamente e são fontes de constantes inquietações para os curadores. Analisando diversas formas de “colocar em museu” o animal selvagem, na África, na Europa e no Brasil, o artigo mostra como o museu funciona como instância de um processo de “domesticação simbólica” dos animais selvagens, analisando alguns dos desafios aos quais são confrontados, atualmente, os museus de história natural.
Museus e Patrimônio: experiências e devires, 2015
Cândido, Manuelina Maria Duarte; Ruoso, Carolina ( Org.) Museus e patrimônio: experiências e devi... more Cândido, Manuelina Maria Duarte; Ruoso, Carolina ( Org.) Museus e patrimônio: experiências e devires Manuelina Maria Duarte Cândido; Carolina Ruoso (Org.). – Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco: Editora Massangana, 2015. 160p.
Cadernos de Antropologia social, 2020
Resumen A partir de una etnografía de larga duración en los proyectos de asentamiento de un progr... more Resumen A partir de una etnografía de larga duración en los proyectos de asentamiento de un programa estatal en lo que habían sido Ingenios azucareros en el nordeste de Brasil, cuestiono en este artículo la aparente evidencia de « la economía » como marco privilegiado para comprender la situación de vida de los pobres, la que está estructurada por la precariedad y la incertidumbre sobre el futuro. Explorando la semántica del verbo portugués esperar (que condensa las acciones de esperar en el tiempo, de tener esperanza y de esperar algo probable) se analiza la pluralidad de posibles orientaciones frente al futuro de los antiguos trabajadores de la caña de azúcar, hoy beneficiarios de los proyectos de reforma agraria y sus estrategias para mitigar la incertidumbre en situaciones diversas. Mientras que la incertidumbre radical está fuera del control de las personas, éstas si pueden actuar sobre otras formas de incertidumbre relativas. Si bien el dinero es deseable, tiene un carácter transitorio, mientras que el valor de los amigos reside en su potencial de ayudar, especialmente en caso de crisis. En este sentido, la etnografía nos permite ir más allá de una "antropología económica" que propone analizar "otras economías", para explorar más bien los campos de oportunidades y los marcos de referencia que estructuran las situaciones de vida de las personas y las versiones locales de oikonomia, en su significado original de "gobierno de la casa" (gouvernement of houselhold). Abstract Based on long-term ethnographic research in state-run settlement projects on former sugarcane plantations in Northeast Brazil, this article questions the evidence of "the economy" as a privileged framework for understanding the life situation of the poor, structured by precariousness and uncertainty about the future. Exploring the polyse-my of Portuguese esperar (to wait, to hope, and to expect), it analyzes the plurality of Palabras clave
Proa: Revista de Antropologia e Arte, 2011
O animal selvagem, morto ou vivo, nos museus e exposições, provocam fascinação e desconforto simu... more O animal selvagem, morto ou vivo, nos museus e exposições, provocam fascinação e desconforto simultaneamente e são fontes de constantes inquietações para os curadores. Analisando diversas formas de “colocar em museu” o animal selvagem, na África, na Europa e no Brasil, o artigo mostra como o museu funciona como instância de um processo de “domesticação simbólica” dos animais selvagens, analisando alguns dos desafios aos quais são confrontados, atualmente, os museus de história natural.
Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Brésil, ana... more Cet article, s'appuyant notamment sur un vaste ensemble d'expositions en France et au Brésil, analyse les façons dont le mythe des « peuples premiers », fournissant aux classes moyennes urbaines l'image romantique de peuples indigènes hors de l'histoire, trouve une incarnation privilégiée dans les photographies des groupes indigènes d'Amazonie, souvent représentés de façon stéréotypée. Ces représentations romantiques présentes dans les médias, les univers artistiques, structurent aussi les catégories de perception et d'interprétation des visiteurs d'expositions, des spectateurs ou des lecteurs, constituant une composante essentielle du succès populaire de l'anthropologie.