Entre a paisagem sagrada andina e o espaço museal brasileiro: a biografia social de um vaso kero tiwanakota no Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia Americana da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the social biography of a ceremonial kero vessel from the Andean Tiwanaku culture, currently exhibited at the Museum of Archaeology and American Ethnology of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (MAEA-UFJF). The investigation sought to describe the agency of this object, as well as the material dimensions that surround it. It considers the vessel from the extraction of its raw material, through its ceramic production and ritual use, to its current placement within the Brazilian museological context. As a theoretical methodological foundation, the research draws on the theories of Ian Hodder and Bruno Latour regarding agency and materiality, articulating them with the Andean ontocosmology. The aim is to propose a decolonial approach that seeks to overcome the ontological dichotomy between subject and object, valuing the active role of the vessel as a relational agent within distinct sociocultural networks. A comparative analysis was also carried out using museographic guides of Andean ceramic collections, allowing for the identification of the style and possible geographic origin of the MAEA-UFJF kero vessel, classified as belonging to the Acarapi style. Based on this framework, the research also aims to place the piece chronologically within the phases of the Tiwanaku culture. The dissertation highlights the importance of understanding the kero not merely as an archaeological artifact, but as a “generative object”, capable of evoking Andean practices, memories, and cosmologies, while also fostering reflections on museological communication within Brazilian institutions. The results are expected to contribute to discussions on materiality, agency, and museological practices that are sensitive to pluriepistemologies, promoting new perspectives on Amerindian collections in university museums.