ABSTRACT
Based on a case drawn from ethnographic fieldwork involving photographic reenactments of archival photographs with (presumably) indigenous Caixana in the Brazilian Amazon, this chapter details the unforeseen, and unintended, ethical aspects and political potential of repatriating archive material to (presumed) descendants of those (presumably) indigenous people portrayed in the original photographs. Attending to a critical interrogation of historical documents, and of how they are appropriated and come to figure in contemporary narrations of culture and identity, this chapter inscribes itself in theoretical discussions about history, identity, and the role of archival documents in disputes over “truth,” place, and belonging.
