Paper short abstract:

In this presentation I will discuss the recent discovery of legacy materials from Robert Meader, a missionary who worked with the Mỹky-speaking Iranxe in Mato Grosso, Brazil, in the 1930-50s, as well as the research process that led to locating these materials and the aftermath of their resurfacing.

Paper long abstract:

This talk discussed the recent discovery of legacy materials from Robert E. Meader (1912-1997), a protestant missionary who worked with the Mỹky-speaking Iranxe (Manoki) in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Meader played a crucial role in a moment of very important transformations for the Iranxe society, taking part in the first ongoing contacts of outsiders with Iranxe villages in the 1930s-40s. At Utiariti mission, the Jesuits exerted enormous pressure on the indigenous people living there, banishing traditional cultural and spiritual practices, while also forbidding the children forced to live in the mission's boarding school from speaking in their language.

Meader, who studied the Mỹky spoken by the Iranxe from a peripheral role at the Utiariti telegraph station, documented a period of time for whith there is virtually no surviving documentation. At a time when the Iranxe-Manoki are reclaiming their ancestral language and culture, the resurfacing of unique written, sound and photographic records from 80-90 years ago represents a small miracle for this community, where today only three elders speak the language.

Meader would have deposited his linguistic and ethnographic research materials at the Museu Nacional (in Rio de Janeiro), as was required of misssionaries doing research work among indigenous communities in Brazil. With the loss of the Museu Nacional in a fire in 2017, the only surviving Meader materials are the ones that he had kept, which have remained in the possession of his family. This paradoxal situation poses additional challenges to the conversations about potential devolution actions to Brazilian institutions.