The present article analyses Couto de Magalhães’ ethnographic writing in his book entitled "O Selvagem" that was published in 1874. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the existance of two distinct and conflictuous ethnographic languages in Magalhães’ book, which accounts for two different models for representing the indigenous historicity and suggests the existence of two political action modalities. The existence of these distinct ethnographic languages is hypothesized here as an evidence of Couto de Magalhães’ efforts to revitalize the ethnographic debate that had been performed at the IHGB since the 1840’s.
ethnography; temporality; nation