LEAL, João. The History of Portuguese Anthropology
LEAL, João. The History of Portuguese Anthropology
LEAL, João. The History of Portuguese Anthropology
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composite group of objects, running from traditional pottery to folk architecture or traditional clothing.
Verglio Correia, Lus Chaves and Pires de Lima were some of the most prominent representatives of
this kind of approach, which possessed a strong "folkloristic" bias.
From 1930 to 1960, the most important Portuguese anthropologist was Jorge Dias, who formed a team
including Veiga de Oliveira, Benjamim Pereira, Fernando Galhano and Margot Dias, whose research
agenda centered on three main topics: a) the study of mountain rural communities of Northern Portugal;
b) the study of material culture and traditional agricultural technologies (e.g. ploughs, granaries, windand water- mills); c) overall studies of Portuguese folk culture. Influenced by German diffusionism and
the North American school of "Culture and Personality," Dias was also crucial in the institutional
development of Portuguese anthropology. He pioneered the teaching of ethnology and social and
cultural anthropology at the Universities of Coimbra and Lisboa and was the founder, in 1965, of the
National Museum of Ethnology, the most important Portuguese ethnographic museum.
Besides Dias research, this period was also marked by the development of an ethnographic discourse
closely associated with Estado Novo, the dictatorial regime led by Salazar, which favored a strongly
ideological vision of rural Portugal, especially of folk art, which was viewed by the ethnographers of the
regime as the core instance of Portuguese folk culture. The development of this kind of ethnography led
to the rise, during the late 1950s and 1960s, of an alternative view of Portuguese folk culture, proposed
by intellectuals who were active in the left wing opposition to the Estado Novo. Michel Giacometti,
Lopes Graa and Ernesto de Sousa were some of the key figures of this alternative ethnography of
Portugal.
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Of course it was not the first time that historical issues concerning the development of Portuguese
anthropology had been addressed. Already in the 1930s, Vasconcelos (1933) had written the first paper
on the topic. Later on Dias (1952) developed his own vision of the subject. Written from a presentist
point of view, their contributions provided the first systematic genealogical narratives of the discipline
in Portugal, as well as the first inventories of its major ancestors. A number of more focused papers,
addressing the work of particular anthropologists were also produced (e.g. Ribeiro 1942, Oliveira 1966,
Gonalves 1967). However, it was in the 1980s and 1990s that a more systematic and historicist
approach to the history of Portuguese anthropology developed.
Among the studies produced in the last two decades, one can find, first of all, overall approaches to the
history of Portuguese anthropology like the ones proposed in the past by Vasconcelos and Dias (Branco
1986, Pina Cabral 1991, 1992, Sanchez Gmez 1997, Leal 1999). Both the genealogies proposed for the
discipline and the ways in which its historical development is addressed are, as one could expect, very
different from the ones proposed by those two anthropologists. Branco (1986), for instance, focuses on
the links between the fragile institutionalization of anthropology in Portugal and the difficulties that its
scientific reproduction had to meet. Pina Cabral (1991, 1992) is mostly concerned with the interaction
between Portuguese anthropologists and international anthropology. This issue is also addressed by Leal
(1999c), who explores some aspects of the nation building nature of Portuguese anthropology. Finally,
Sanchez Gmez (1997) contrasts the development of Portuguese anthropology with the history of
Spanish anthropology.
Another area of interest in the recent development of Portuguese anthropology has been the study of
particular anthropologists. The majority of these studies have been published as prefaces to the reedition of their works. Particular attention has been paid until now to nineteenth century Portuguese
anthropologists like Tofilo Braga (Ferr 1982, Branco 1985, Leal 1987), Consiglieri Pedroso (Leal
1981, 1988), Adolfo Coelho (Leal 1993a, 1993b), Oliveira Martins (Lupi 1984a, Guerreiro 1986) and A.
Toms Pires (Falco & Ferreira 1986, Lages 1992). Two of the most emblematic Portuguese
anthropologists, Vasconcelos and Dias, have also received some attention (on Vasconcelos see Branco
1994, 1995, Leal 1996; on Dias see Lupi 1984b, Brito 1989, Pereira 1986, 1989a, 1989b, 1999).
Pereiras articles on Dias, focused on his research among the Makonde, are of particular importance,
since they address more general issues concerning the complex relationship between Portuguese
anthropology and the colonial realm. Following Margaridos seminal essay (Margarido 1975), this topic
has also been addressed by Moutinho (1980, 1982) Donato Gallo (Gallo 1988; for a critique of Gallos
approach see Pereira 1989d). More recently, Porto has addressed issues related to the Dundo Museum in
colonial Angola (Porto 1999a, 1999b, 1999c).
Finally, there has been an upsurge of studies addressing specific themes and issues in the history of
Portuguese anthropology. Among them one can find: articles on the historical development of
ethnographic museums (Pereira, Benjamim 1989, Pereira, Rui 1989c, Branco & Oliveira 1993b, Branco
1995; cf. also the essays by Porto quoted above) or University departments (Cem Anos... 1985); the
interaction between "central" anthropology in Lisboa and Porto, the two major Portuguese intellectual
centers, and local ethnographers working in provincial towns (Martins 1989, Medeiros 1992, Brito &
Leal 1997, Leal 1997, Prista 1997, Martins 1997, Sousa 1997); aspects of the folkloristic ethnography
typical of the Portuguese Estado Novo (Brito 1982, Alves 1997, Branco 1999a, 1999b); or the research
of some key figures in the development of an alternative ethnography during Estado Novo, such as
Ernesto de Sousa (Brito 1995) or Michel Giacometti (Branco & Oliveira 1993a). Ethnomusicology
(Castelo Branco & Morgado 1988) and the historical development of a tradition of ethnographic cinema
(Leal et al. 1993) have also received some attention. Medeiros has explored the relationship between
anthropology and literary and visual discourses in the representation of the folk culture of Northeastern
Portugal (Medeiros 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999) and Leal has worked on the relationship between the
history of Portuguese anthropology and the construction of national identity (Branco & Leal 1995, Leal
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1995, 1999a, 1999b, 1999c). Both authors have developed an approach to the history of Portuguese
anthropology which emphasizes its links to other disciplinary discourses, such as archaeology, history or
literature, which shared with anthropology a strong commitment towards the folk, the rural world and
the ethnic roots of Portuguese folk culture.
Although the vast majority of studies available on the history of Portuguese anthropology have been
produced by anthropologists committed to the study of the past of their discipline, there is a growing
interest on the topic among historians. Melos M.A. thesis on the folkloristic ethnography favored by the
Portuguese Estado Novo (Melo 1997) and Santos Silvas book on 19th century Portuguese
anthropologists (Silva 1997) provide good examples of this trend (cf. also Ramada Curto 1995).
A final note: although the majority of the references quoted are available only in Portuguese, some of
them are written in English or French. That is the case with Castelo Branco & Toscano (1988), Leal
(1999a, 1999b, 1999c), Margarido (1975), Pina Cabral (1992) and Porto (1999b, 1999c).
References Cited
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1986 Cultura como Cincia? Da Consolidao do Discurso Antropolgico
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