Ethnographic collecting in Brazil (1955-1975): an interview with René Fuerst

Abstract This interview focuses on the trajectory of Swiss ethnographer René Fuerst who worked from 1955 to 1975 among a number of indigenous groups in Brazil. Fuerst worked as a researcher and photographer of indigenous ways of life and collected ethnographic objects for museums in Brazil and in Europe, particularly at the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva, Switzerland. His photographs can be seen in books he has recently published. The interview brings to light different practical and political aspects of collecting ethnographic objects in Brazil in the 1950s-1970s. It focuses on the careers and activities of René Fuerst as well as that of the Polish collector Borys Malkin.