In April, the EMKP welcomed three visitors – Maria Luisa Lucas, Majoí Favero Gongora, and Hekeré Terena. Both Maria Luisa and Majoí are currently involved in ongoing EMKP projects: Maria Luísa as Principal Investigator for ‘The Bora Design System: Documenting the Knowledge Networks of Designs Made on Bodies and Objects in an Amerindian Ritual’; and Majoí as a collaborator on ‘Weaving rivers and connecting communities: Documenting endangered traditional practices and associated knowledge among the Ye’Kwana indigenous people, Brazil’. Hekeré is an Indigenous researcher from the Terena people, working in Indigenous education and cultural heritage. She holds postdoctoral training and has broad experience in research, teaching,  and community-engaged projects that connect Indigenous knowledge systems, education, and collaborative cultural initiatives.

 

Two women are sat at a wooden table. The one on the left is wearing a green, jungle-leaf patterned shirt, and has long black hair pulled over her right shoulder. She is learning forward, facing in profile on her left side, and is laughing. In front of her sits a silver chrome laptop with four large colourful stickers of illustrations. In front of the laptop is a silver chrome waterbottle with a turquoise blue grip at the base. To the left of this is a smartphone on top of a ringbound notebook. The woman on the right is wearing a white shirt with a colourful illustration on the front, and a purple lanyard. She is smiling to someone on her left. She also has long black hair, but it is pulled behind her head by a tulle orange headband. She has braces and a tattoo on her lower left forearm. In her left hand, she is holding a Pret A Manger coffee cup. On the table in front of her are a packet of Biscoff biscuits and a smartphone.

Majoí Favero Gongora and Hekeré Terena (Kajanó – CDLCI), EMKP, 2026

 

On this occasion, however, the three were visiting on behalf of Kanajó – Centro de Documentação de Línguas e Culturas Indígenas in Brazil, a newly established research and documentation centre co-hosted by the Museu da Língua Porguguesa and the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia.

The Centre’s mission is to research, document, and disseminate the linguistic and cultural diversity of Indigenous peoples in Brazil through participatory methodologies and digital infrastructure that support community priorities and intercultural dialogue. Meeting with us was part of a wider itinerary for them, as they came to the UK to learn about and exchange experiences with digital repository initiatives and collaborative practices in ethnographic museums. A central aspect of the CDLCI’s work is funding and coordinating research projects and fieldwork conducted by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, with the explicit aim of developing digital collections in close collaboration with Indigenous communities.

 

A photo of 6 people stood in an office in front of two bookshelves. They all have their arms around each others' shoulders. The five women on the right are all around the same height and dressed fairly monochrome, apart from the lady on the far right, who is wearing a colourful, leaf-patterned shirt. The man on the left is taller than the women by one to two feet, and is wearing a blue shirt over an orange t-shirt. All of them have dark hair, apart from the woman third to the right, who has blonde hair. Everyone is smiling at the camera.

From left to right: Jacob Anthony (Project Curator: EMKP), Elia Quijano (Project Curator: EMKP), Hekeré, Paula Granados Garcia (Head of the EMKP), Maria Luísa Lucas (Professor, USP), and Majoí, EMKP, 2026

 

Access to these collections is not conceived as unrestricted open access, but is instead governed by protocols and decisions collectively defined with the communities, allowing for differentiated levels of circulation and use. The Centre also integrates linguistic and anthropological documentation with the development of a digital repository and cultural communication initiatives, grounded in principles of shared stewardship and long-term collaboration.

The visit was an opportunity to explore models of community-engaged curation, participatory digitisation, and sustainable digital infrastructure that support digital collections and databases. It was a wonderful chance for all of us to  engage in a knowledge exchange, which included team wide discussions, one-on-one sessions with both EMKP and British Museum curators, and a visit to the Eccles Institute at the British Library to explore the Latin American collections.

 

A photograph of a young woman sat at a wooden table in front of large wooden display cases filled with files. She is wearing a black shirt, and has a curly, dark brown bob. She is smiling aat someone off screen to her left. On her right wrist, which is resting on the table, is a bead bracelet woven out of bright red and lime green beeds. On the table in front of her are two water bottles - a blue matte one on the left, and a silver chrome one with a monochrome, botanical sticker on the right. In front of the silver bottle, a purple lanyard is draped. In front of the woman's right hand sits a smart phone. She has a small, golden nose ring on her right nostril.

Maria Luísa, EMKP, 2026

 

Congratulations to Maria Luísa, Majoí and Hekeré on all their hard work so far on such a fascinating project; we are excited to see what this partnership will bring and how this project develops in the future.

 

Header Image: Hekeré and Paula, EMKP, 2026.

 

 

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