The Amazon rainforest, renowned for its biodiversity, also holds profound cultural significance for Indigenous peoples. As primary custodians of ancestral knowledge, these communities play vital roles in managing and preserving the foundations that underpin sustainable use of forest resources, cultural practices, and identities. The project ‘Weaving fibres of resistance: Tikuna tree bark and identity in the Amazon’ seeks to reassert the role of the Tikuna people as stewards of cultural identity and ancestral knowledge by investigating and documenting their use of specific plants in sociocultural practices. These efforts are critical, as the lands surrounding the Tikuna are vulnerable to invasions by groups that seek to exploit their natural resources or interfere with their traditional practices, which are intrinsically connected to the Amazonian biome.

The initial inspiration arose in 2018 during a collaboration with ‘Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia of Universidade de São Paulo’ (MAE-USP), where we examined a Tikuna collection assembled by Harald Schultz in the 20th century (Matarezio 2021). Our plans included engagement with Tikuna representatives and ‘Museu Magüta’ (MM), a museum located in Benjamin Constant, Amazonas, which has been founded and managed by the Tikuna since 1991 and is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of their culture (Lopes 2005). Although our research was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, discussions between the PI, Renata F. Peters and Santo Cruz Clemente, the Magüta director, continued to develop. At the time, Cruz Clemente expressed concerns about traditional knowledge transfer and a strong interest in organizing activities to foster greater engagement between young Tikuna individuals and traditional culture. He also offered the museum space for potential interactions with the collection and its local interest groups.

Our current EMKP project was designed in response to these concerns and interests. By engaging directly with Tikuna knowledge holders, it examines the processes involved in the procurement, manufacture and use of objects related to the Young Woman Festival (YWF), an important Tikuna rite of passage, particularly those made from the inner bark of trees known locally as ‘tururi’. We draw on ethnographic methods to document continuity and change in the procurement and selection of relevant plants, manufacturing technologies utilized, associated socio-cultural practices, their current uses and significance, as well as the choices and applications of natural pigments and modern substitutes.

 

The Tikuna

The Tikuna are the largest indigenous nation in Brazil, with a population of 74,061 individuals (IBGE 2025), while additional members also live in nearby villages across the Brazilian border with Colombia and Peru. Many of their gatherings have social and economic importance, but the YWF is probably the most important of them all, as it involves detailed preparation and engages participants from relevant communities for many weeks (Matarezio 2021). It is triggered by the beginning of the first menstrual cycle, when the young woman goes into isolation in a purposedly built room in her home, where strict protocols are followed. Concomitantly, her local Tikuna community starts the preparations for the rites. Guests are carefully selected to produce musical instruments, masks, and other ceremonial objects made out of ‘tururi’ and other materials sourced from the forest. During the festival, masked dancers representing non-human creatures will attempt to startle, scare but also entertain, provoke laughter and joy in the participants. They may attempt to kidnap the young women to teach them caution and vigilance, while also instructing other participants to respect the women and adhere to established protocols. If successful, the rites will protect the initiated women during their puberty years and bring prosperity and harmony not only to the local community but also to the world beyond.

 

Engagement with knowledge holders

In addition to the ethnographic research previously described, our project seeks to facilitate activities that resonate with different age groups. We have observed that the younger Tikuna participants interested in our project are often emerging community leaders or university students pursuing degrees related to anthropology and museums, while the older participants are respected knowledge holders.  To promote dynamic and more equitable knowledge exchange among all participants, including ourselves, we have also created capacity-building initiatives that share the museological expertise of project organizers, ultimately enhancing  everyone’s ability to use material culture to promote traditional knowledge.

For our first series of engagements in 2024, conducted in collaboration with ‘Universidade Federal do Amazonas’ (UFAM) and Museu Magüta, we offered sessions focused on collection management, preventive conservation, and documentation methods applicable to the Magüta collection. Each session began with presentations by Tikuna participants (figure 1), who showcased manufacturing technologies and explained the significance of artefacts, performed music, or led discussions on topics of their choice (figure 2). Following these presentations, we facilitated lectures, discussions, and object-based activities aimed at maximizing the impact of the collection by enhancing access, interpretation, and communication. The Tikuna participants demonstrated exceptional creativity, skill and dexterity, alongside engaging discussions on how, for example, to replace traditional museum-grade materials that are not readily available in the area and adapt locally sourced materials for various functions.

 

A photograph of three men performing in what appears to be an office. There is a clean whiteboard on the background wall, and several desks. The big desk in the background is covered in what appear to be woven anthropological artefacts. The desks further away in the back right corner are home to several laptops and a projector. To the right of the whiteboard, there is a banner that reads 'Museu Magüta'. The text is black, but the 'gü' has been emphasised in red. The two men on the left and right are younger, and are playing percussive instruments. The man on the left is wearing dark clothes, and has white wired earbuds draped around his neck. His dark hair falls in curtains over his eyes., but otherwise his hair is short. He is holding what appears to be a belt of fabric with hard nut shells attached, and is in the process of shaking it. The man on the right is also wearing dark clothes, including a sports polo. Around his neck and under the collar of the shirt, he is wearing an orange beeded necklace. His hair is styled so that it sweeps away from his face with volume. He is shaking a maracca. The older man in the middle is shorter, and is playing a black acoustic guitar. He is wearing a lime green graphic tee, and an unzipped electric blue jacket with a black crocodile printed on the front. Around his neck, he wears a thick beaded necklace, and on his head is an almond coloured fedora with a dark brown trim.

Figure 1. Salé Pinto do Carmo, Santo Cruz Clemente and Aldson Mariano Lázaro give a musical performance at the start of a workshop session. Rights ownership: Renata F. Peters, 2024.

 

A group of four people stand in an office, behind a large desk covered with anthropological objects and in front of a large whiteboard. The whiteboard has been filled with writing - at the top, there is a title in blue that reads 'Rede de TUCUM - NAPA'. The objects on the desk are mostly woven fabrics and materials, though there are a few percussive instruments as well, such as a maracca. In the right hand corner, a banner has been hung, with the title 'Museu Magüta'. The font colour is black, but the 'gü' has been emphasised in red. The group of people consists of three adults and one child. The adults stand in a row, with two women on the left and one man on the right. The child, a little girl, is held gently by the elbow by the woman furthest to the left. She is wearing a bright pink coat, and is looking back to the whiteboard so that her face is not visible. She has a short black bob. The woman holding the girl is looking out to the right, and has long dark hair tied into a low ponytail. She is wearing dark shorts and a neon yellow, flowy top, decorated with intricate black mandala designs. The woman in the middle seems the youngest of the trio. Her hands are clasped in front of her as she looks straight ahead, though due to the angle of the camera, she is not looking directly at the viewer. She also has long dark hair that is tied back in a low ponytail, and around her neck is a dark beaded necklace. She is wearing light blue jeans and a cream graphic tee. The design is in black, and consists of two top and bottom borders of geometric design, which are also repeated around the edges of the short sleeves. In between these boarders is an illustration of two braceleted hands clasping each other, and above this a caption reads 'A CAUSA INDÍGENA É DE TODOS NÓS'. The man on the right is turned to face the woman in the middle. He is wearing dark trousers and a lime green sports shirt, on the collar of which he has hung his black, square-rimmed glasses. On his shirt is a logo image of a row of books in various colours, with the following words curving around the top of it: 'XXVIII [?] DO ALTO BOL[L?]M[Ö?]ES'. Underneath this is the olympic symbol of fiver rings interlinked (blue, yellow, black, green, red). In that order, the rings contain the following letters: XVIII, J, E, A, S. At the very bottom, in white writing, it reads: "BENJAMIN CONSTA[?] 2024" On his head is a fabric fedora in a almond colour, with a dark brown trim.

Figure 2. Mercedes Mariano Fernandes, Eunete Pereira Eduardo and Santo Cruz Clemente present their views on how to create an inventory for Tikuna objects. Rights ownership: Renata F. Peters, 2024.

 

The younger participants showed great interest in capacity-building, including digital photography, videomaking, and 3D modelling (figure 3). However, it soon became evident that they were also eager to learn from the older Tikuna knowledge holders. The most compelling outcomes arose from activities in which participants could directly engage with the collection, such as trying out the musical instruments on display, handling artefacts or discussing how different objects were made or used. The opportunity to interact with and view their museum from both museological and Tikuna perspectives sparked stimulating and in-depth dialogue among all participants, under the generous leadership of Oscar Gregório Ramos and Santo Cruz Clemente, who had personal connections with some of the artefact makers or had witnessed their creation decades earlier (figure 4).

 

A photograph of three young men stood in a bare white room holding pieces of white card, in front of a camera and tripod. They have their backs to the tripod, and instead are facing the camera. The two young men on the left are both wearing white graphic tee shirts, and bending over the man in the middle's phone as he takes a picture of his piece of card. They both have short dark hair - the one on the left is wearing glasses, and the one in the middle is wearing two chunky beaded necklaces. The young man on the right is taller, and his dark hair flops down into his eyes in middle-parted curtains as he watches the other two. He is wearing a graphic tee as well, except his is black, and has a white scorpion in the middle.

Figure 3. Aldson Mariano Lázaro, Salomão Inácio Clemente and Salé Pinto do Carmo during preventive conservation exercise at UFAM. Rights ownership: Renata F. Peters, 2024.

 

 

A photograph of a man standing in the corner of a display room. On the walls around him are several different anthropological sculptures. With his left hand he is pointing to one just behind him, which consists of two long legs made out of what appears to be animal hide, trimmed with natural fibres, and a black wooden mask with red eyes and painted white facial features. The pupils of the eyes are made with red beads, and the mouth is open to reveal small, sharp, red teeth. On top of the mask is lots of the same natural fibre as used on the legs, acting now as hair. The man is older, with short grey hair and a white goatee. He is wearing dark blue trousers, a white tee shirt, and a deep blue denim jacket.

 

Figure 4. Oscar Gregório Ramos shares knowledge about the Tikuna masks used in the ‘Young Woman Festival’ using a mask from the Museu Magüta collection. Rights ownership: Renata F. Peters, 2024.

 

These activities strongly encourage co-creation and prompt participants to voluntarily share their expertise on various topics. This is exemplified by a session led by Mercedes Mariano Fernandes and Josi Tikuna, who demonstrated the process of making a ‘tucum’ hammock (tucum refers to fibres extracted from palm trees of the Astrocaryum genus). Initially, they showed the hammock and provided a brief overview of the weaving and dyeing techniques utilized to make it. However, as the other participants expressed enthusiastic interest, they prepared a detailed presentation for the following day, in which they meticulously discussed each stage involved in the production. In what could only be described as a master class, they explained the entire process, beginning with the procurement of the tucum tree and the cutting of tucum buds, followed by the splitting of the fibres, spinning techniques, dyeing, and finally, the weaving methods. The session also included hands-on experience in spinning fibres, a sophisticated technique that must be performed directly on the bare leg of the spinner. Follow-up sessions were conducted in a public space in front of the museum (figure 5) and attracted passers-by, some of whom stopped to observe or participate in the demonstrations. Among them were women from the local women’s craft association, who expressed interest in sharing their knowledge in a separate workshop that took place months later.

 

 

 

A photograph of a woman sat on a red floor, in front of a yellow half wall. She is barefoot, and her dark hair is tied back into either a bun or a french twist. Her shorts are turquoise and linen, and her baby blue shirt is loose with a v neck, from which hangs a metal 'L'. Her hands are blurred as she braids some fibres into a thread - there is a pile of thread she has already braided to her left, and a pile of unbraided fibres in front of her.

Figure 5. Mercedes Mariano Fernandes demonstrates how to spin the fibres of ‘tucum’ Museu Magüta. Rights Ownership: Renata F. Peters, 2024.

 

Collaboration with museums

To share information with the Tikuna community about the global presence of their ancestors’ productions, we are reaching out to museums that house these collections. In addition to disseminating the information generously shared by these institutions, we utilize these historic collections, which were primarily assembled between the 19th and 20th centuries, to deepen our understanding of raw materials, technologies, and potential continuity and change of these practices. Thus far, we have successfully collaborated with and/or accessed collections in a range of museums (endnote 1).

Three Brazilian museums merit particular attention in this context. First, MAE-USP, because it served as the initial inspiration for this project. ‘Museu Magüta’ and ‘Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi’ (MPEG) also deserve to be singled out not only for the importance of their collections but also for their efforts to collaborate with the originating communities, which have been integral to our project. Our interactions with European museums have also been productive. For example, the ‘Museo Nacional de Antropología’ in Spain, the ‘Pitt Rivers Museum’, and the ‘Economic Botany Collections’ at the ‘Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’ (both in the United Kingdom) gave access to photograph and create 3D models of select items from their Tikuna collections. The Pitt Rivers further enhanced our collaboration by temporarily displaying two of the masks we documented (figure 6). These objects were acquired in the 1990s, but had never been exhibited to the public until this recent temporary exhibition from June to October 2025.

 

A photograph of a sculpture on a trolley in a display room. Around the figure are numerous glass cases, willed to the brim with anthropological objects, each one with its own white label. In the centre of the room is the trolly, holding the sculpture, which is propped up by a white base. The sculpture is tall and thin, shaped similarly to a bowling pin, and appears to be woven from a fibre, with some tassels hanging from the bottom. Brown geometric shapes and stripes have been woven, or painted, onto the body. The figure has a long neck that blends seamlessly from shoulder to head, on which there is a mask. The mask is a dark brown, with an angular, flat chin, and a bright white nose. The eyes and mouth are both a pale beige, and the slight downturn of the eyes gives the figure a sad look. For hair, white fibres have been attached to the top of the head, and fall down to the shoulders.

Figure 6. Tikuna mask accession number 1990.47.8 during installation at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Photograph courtesy of Renata F. Peters, 2025.

 

In summary, our project strives to maximize impact by creating diverse opportunities for knowledge exchange, communication, and capacity building. Through collaborations with museums, we also facilitate dialogue between institutions and the descendants of the original creators of their collections, which not only enhances the relevance of the collections but also helps shedding light on the depth of Tikuna culture, which deserves broader recognition. More importantly, by collaborating directly with the primary knowledge holders and developing activities to enhance the transfer of knowledge and awareness of Tikuna culture, we aim to create more opportunities to support their efforts in preserving cultural identity and ancestral knowledge while supporting them as custodians of ecological wisdom.

 

References

Coordenação de Comunicação Social/Funai  (2025).  Censo 2022 identifica 391 povos e 295 línguas indígenas e reforça necessidade de atuação integrada entre os entes federados. FUNAI. https://www.gov.br/funai/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/censo-2022-identifica-391-povos-e-295-linguas-indigenas-e-reforca-necessidade-de-atuacao-integrada-entre-os-entes-federados

IBGE (2025). Pessoas indígenas, por sexo e grupos de idade, segundo etnia, povo ou grupo indígena a que pertence e declaração da etnia como única ou dupla, localização e situação do domicílio. Censo Demográfico 2022.  https://sidra.ibge.gov.br/tabela/10395#resultado

Lopes, C. R. (2005). What is a museum for? The Magüta Museum for the Ticuna people, Amazonas, Brazil. Public Archaeology, 4(2–3), 183–186. https://doi.org/10.1179/pua.2005.4.2-3.183

Matarezio, E. (2021) Perigosos festeiros: as máscaras Ticuna sessenta anos após Harald Schultz. In Vieira, A.C.D, Cury, M. X. Cutluras Indígenas no Brasil e na Coleção Harald Schultz. Edições SESC: São Paulo, 151-172.

 

Endnote: Alphabetical list of museums with whom we have collaborated: Economic Botany Collections, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, United Kingdom. Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Musée d’ethnographie (MEG), Geneve, Switzerland. Museo de América, Madrid, Spain. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Madrid, Spain. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo (MAE-USP), São Paulo, Brazil. Museu Magüta, Benjamin Constant, Amazonas, Brazil. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG), Pará, Brazil. Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM), University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Washington D.C., United States of America.

 

Acknowledgments:

We extend heartfelt gratitude to our Tikuna partners in this project, whose essential participation has greatly enriched our work, especially Oscar Gregório Ramos, Santo Cruz Clemente, Josi Tikuna, Mercedes Mariano Fernandes, Salomão Inácio Clemente, Eunete Pereira Eduardo, Aldson Mariano Lázaro and Salé Pinto do Carmo. We also thank the museums listed in note 1 for granting us access to their invaluable collections, which significantly enhanced the relevance of our research. The first workshop mentioned above was generously supported by the UCL Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Funding, in collaboration with Ignácio Echeverria Faccin, Delphine Mercier and Eli Diaz Pila. And finally, we would also like to thank the hospitality and logistical support received from our colleagues at Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM).

 

 

 

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