Heloísa Alberto Torres

HELOÍSA ALBERTO TORRES

Born in Rio de Janeiro on September 17, 1895, Heloísa Alberto Torres was the third child of the jurist and politician Alberto Torres and Maria José Xavier da Silveira. She achieved international recognition for her studies and work in the fields of anthropology and ethnography in Brazil - holding the main positions, including the first woman to become Director of the National Museum, with a long tenure that profoundly marked the institution.

Heloísa's father was from a family from Itaborai, and she spent part of her childhood in Petrópolis, then the capital of Rio de Janeiro, during her father's time as governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro. At the time, she was a boarding student at the Notre-Dame de Sion College and acquired various humanistic and linguistic skills, becoming fluent in English and French. On one of her trips to Europe during her teenage years, she escaped death in a shipwreck in Lisbon in 1907.

In 1918, Heloísa began working as an assistant to the anthropologist and ethnologist Edgar Roquette-Pinto. From an early age, Heloísa lived with some of Brazil's leading intellectuals at her father's house. This routine was repeated throughout her academic life. Her work was strongly influenced by Roquette-Pinto himself and the explorer Marechal Rondon.

During her career, she became a permanent member of the National Museum through a competitive examination in 1925. She was a professor in the Anthropology, Ethnography and Archaeology Division and a member of the Council of Artistic and Scientific Expeditions of Brazil. In 1938, she was appointed director of the National Museum by Getúlio Vargas and remained in the post until 1955. She also taught anthropology at the University of the Federal District and at the Philosophy Faculty of the Lafayete Institute (now UERJ), among others.

Independent and well-prepared, respected by the leading names in her field around the world at the time, Heloísa Alberto Torres was one of the pioneers in the fight for women's rights in Brazil and represented the country at various conferences and cultural organizations abroad. Her work on Marajoara ceramics, the result of a scientific expedition, is still a reference today. She trained and mentored a generation of anthropologists and ethnographers and coordinated fundamental research for understanding Brazil.

After leaving the National Museum, he chaired the National Council for the Protection of Indians, when he helped establish a line of study and preservation of indigenous culture in the country. Alongside anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro and the Villas-Boas brothers, Heloísa was one of those responsible for the creation of the Xingu National Park, which covers more than 2.5 million hectares and is fundamental for the preservation of 16 indigenous ethnic groups.

At the age of 81, on February 23, 1977, Heloísa Alberto Torres died of acute respiratory failure. Her body was buried in the family mausoleum at Porto das Caixas Cemetery in Itaboraí. As was her wish in life, the colonial townhouse in Itaboraí, which she bought with her sister, Maria Alberto Torres, in 1963, which she restored and where she lived during her last years, was donated to IPHAN, with all its collections, and became the region's main cultural center.

EXPEDIÇÕES ANTROPOLÓGICAS

HELOÍSA AND GREAT NAMES IN SCIENCE, NATIONAL MUSEUM 1939

Edison Carneiro, Raimundo Lopes, Charles Wagley, Heloísa Alberto Torres, Claude Levi-Strauss, Ruth Landes and Luiz de Castro Faria

At the National Museum, Heloísa guaranteed a prominent place for the work done by anthropological expeditions, which brought together both young Brazilian anthropologists and fundamental names in science from around the world, notably Claude Lévi Strauss.

The work yielded collections of indigenous artifacts, photos and films not only for the National Museum, but also for several other Brazilian museums.

MARAJOARA CERAMICS

Her work on Marajoara ceramics, the result of a scientific expedition, is still a reference today. She trained and mentored a generation of anthropologists and ethnographers and coordinated fundamental research for understanding Brazil.

Tikuna water pot with relief ornaments: jaguar and alligator.

DEFENSE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

“With her wrist, she organized everything. She had that huge map of Brazil, with all the tribes. With all those little crosses, the tribes marked together. She was always receiving people, dispatching and guiding them,” says THE museologist Lygia Martins Costa, who worked directly on Heloísa, in an interview with researcher Adelia Maria Miglievich Ribeiro.

From 1936 to 1968, Heloísa worked uninterruptedly for the cause of indigenous preservation. "Invited to debates on the indigenous question, she defended the view that the State - together with national and international civil organizations - had the task of preserving indigenous populations," says researcher Adelia Maria Miglievich Ribeiro.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE FEDERAL SUPREME COURT - STF, FROM 1902 TO 1909

A little-remembered aspect of Heloísa's life was her role in the National Council for the Protection of Indians and the founding of FUNAI. Founded and chaired by Marshal Cândido Rondon, the CNPI was the formulating and advisory body for Brazilian indigenous policy. This policy was implemented by another body, the Indian Protection Service, which often acted contrary to the CNPI's guidelines.

Heloísa Alberto Torres had been a member of the CNPI since its foundation. In 1954, she took over as vice-president of the body and became its president when Rondon retired in 1955. She worked with people like Darcy Ribeiro, Noel Nuteils, Orlando Villas-Bôas, Jorge Ferreira and others.

In 1961, Heloísa was one of the architects of the creation of the Xingu National Park, which enabled the preservation of 16 endangered indigenous ethnic groups. In 1963, using resources from the National Agricultural Fund, Heloísa began a national census of indigenous groups. In 1966, she drew up the Plan for the Organization and Development of Indigenous Communities, which aimed to replace Brazil's indigenous policy.

Heloísa Alberto Torres fought to maintain a preservationist policy, in which the indigenous people would be the protagonists of their own preservation, "in which no foreign economic system will be imposed on them, but through which individuals will be sought for leadership and those leaders will be asked to indicate what they wish to do", quoting an article by Heloísa herself in 1968.

The anthropologist was trying to curb the "development spirit" that was threatening indigenous communities with the unbridled occupation of the Amazon, mining and logging. Both the CNPI and the SPI were abolished in December 1967 to make way for FUNAI. Heloísa Alberto Torres remained with the new agency for one year, until December 1968, when she retired at the age of 73. She became Director of FUNAI's Department of Studies and Research in order to finalize her long-awaited census of indigenous populations.