The article examines the ethnography of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro (IHGB) in the mid-19th century, highlighting the ethnographic production of its member, Antônio Gonçalves Dias. It emphasizes some of the aspects which characterized the indigenous studies at that moment: the dichotomous image between the Indians of the past and the Indians of the present that echoed in the perception of the Tupi groups and the Tapuia, known as the non-speaking Tupi language groups or the Indians of the hinterland; and the subjection of ethnography to the field of history, as developed in the IHGB. These aspects were related to the theories about the 'decadence' of the Indians and directly affected both the way the Indigenous policies were built and the incapacity of Brazilian intellectuals to assess the ethnic diversity, when some of the IHGB members travelled to the northern provinces of Brazil. Although the Indians extinction was constantly announced, the legacy of this expedition allows glimpsing the richness of the material collected within the indigenous peoples, which continues to challenge in different ways considerations about the complexity of Brazilian national formation.
Ethnography; Historiography; Brazilian Empire; Indians; Antônio Gonçalves Dias; Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro
