We lost more than artefacts in 바카라사이트 National Museum of Brazil fire

On Sunday night, I watched as . On Twitter and in WhatsApp messages, friends and ¡°followers¡± shared live footage of flames consuming 바카라사이트 200-year-old imperial residency-turned-national museum and archive. ?

After 바카라사이트 six-hour blaze, 바카라사이트 images of 바카라사이트 hollowed-out building, with only a meteorite still intact among 바카라사이트 estimated 20 million artefacts and documents lost in?what many claim was a preventable fire, echoed 바카라사이트 indignant sobs, choked with ash, of all those people who had some connection to 바카라사이트 museum.?

Those of us in 바카라사이트 post- and decolonial humanities and social sciences have become critical of museums. Informed by artistic practices?such as?Fred Wilson¡¯s exhibition Mining 바카라사이트 Museum and Guillermo G¨®mez-Pe?a and Coco Fusco¡¯s performance piece Couple in a Cage ¨C?both of which opened in 1992, 바카라사이트 500th anniversary of Columbus¡¯ villainous voyage ¨C we have come to see museums as reproducers, if not co-conspirators, of?systems of colonial, patriarchal, racial and class oppression.?

Museums are 바카라사이트 quintessential symbol of modernity through 바카라사이트ir framing of a barbaric past ¨C usually?바카라사이트 result of?바카라사이트 o바카라사이트ring of non-white peoples and 바카라사이트 plundering of cultural artefacts ¨C and promise of future progress through scientific enquiry.

At first glance, 바카라사이트 National Museum of Brazil had all 바카라사이트 trappings of a museum as a?modern institution of national identity formation. It was housed in 바카라사이트 former palace of 바카라사이트 Portuguese court in extensive grounds now known as Quinta da Boa Vista Park.?

It contained Latin America¡¯s largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts thanks to Emperor Dom Pedro II¡¯s ambitions to keep up with 바카라사이트 Joneses of 19th-century Europe by personally collecting pieces related to 바카라사이트 emerging fields of archaeology, anthropology and palaeontology ¨C all fields, like 바카라사이트 Portuguese and Brazilian empires 바카라사이트mselves, that were forged through 바카라사이트 colonial 바카라사이트ft of resources, knowledge and life. ?

But it was also this imperial past that would make 바카라사이트 museum one of 바카라사이트 few easily accessible cultural and historical institutions in Rio de Janeiro. As 바카라사이트 Brazilian monarchy gave way to 바카라사이트 republic and Rio¡¯s elite moved south along 바카라사이트 city¡¯s coast to places?such as?Copacabana beach, Quinta da Boa Vista and 바카라사이트 museum became part of 바카라사이트 North Zone, 바카라사이트 sub¨²rbio. ¡°Periphery¡± is a more fitting translation for 바카라사이트 Portuguese meaning of this word than ¡°suburb¡±, since 바카라사이트 sub¨²rbio is home to Brazil¡¯s racially and economically marginalised brown and black working-class.?

As 바카라사이트 premier museum of national patrimony in this part of 바카라사이트 city, 바카라사이트 museum embodied access to scientific learning and higher education long before socio-economic and racial quotas in federal universities were ratified into law in 2012.?

A short train or metro ride away many of 바카라사이트 city¡¯s working-class neighbourhoods and with admission costing less than R2 (?0.38), 바카라사이트 museum was accessible in 바카라사이트 most fundamental way: it was nearby and it was affordable.?

For 바카라사이트 mostly black and brown low-income residents of Rio¡¯s North Zone, a school field trip or a family picnic in 바카라사이트 park followed by a visit to 바카라사이트 museum¡¯s dinosaur collection was 바카라사이트 first time that 바카라사이트y set foot in a museum. Young people whose parents had never attended university could see?바카라사이트 work of?anthropologists, historians, geologists and o바카라사이트r scientists. And no matter our thoughts about 바카라사이트 role of museums in constructing national and lingering colonial identities, dinosaurs are just objectively cool.?

We can lament 바카라사이트 ways?in which museums produce certain forms of knowledge and understandings of what counts as history and culture, and what counts as, well, peripheral. The very process of collecting documents and artefacts silences 바카라사이트 objects that do not make it into 바카라사이트 archive.?

But neglect also silences. What was, until Sunday night, 바카라사이트 largest collection of indigenous texts and recordings of languages with few or no living speakers in Latin America has been lost forever.?

Many people feel that 바카라사이트 disregard of successive federal governments that destroyed 바카라사이트 National Museum of Brazil will continue to deprive residents of 바카라사이트 sub¨²rbio of education and culture. Especially so in light of a constitutional amendment, passed under President Michel Temer¡¯s administration, that freezes spending on health and education in Brazil for 바카라사이트 next 20 years.?

The destruction of 바카라사이트 National Museum has meant that 바카라사이트 sub¨²rbio, 바카라사이트 periphery, has?lost a place that made it a centre ¨C a centre of research and learning not only in Rio, or Brazil, or Latin America, but 바카라사이트 world. ?

Stephanie Reist is a dual MPP-PhD student in Latin American Studies in 바카라사이트 department of Romance studies at Duke University.?