Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta um catálogo organizado dos artefatos guarani que se encontram, atualmente, na reserva técnica do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da Universidade de São Paulo, provenientes do Museu Paulista (MP) e do Acervo Plinio Ayrosa (APA). O objetivo principal é viabilizar a divulgação das coleções etnográficas para os Guarani, coletadas em diferentes aldeias e períodos, por diversos coletores. Com isso, pretende-se não apenas reconstituir a \"biografia do objeto\", como também fornecer dados para adensar as trajetórias históricas dos grupos Guarani. No entanto, a elaboração do catálogo prescinde de uma investigação sobre as representações ameríndias elaboradas em museus e baseadas em objetos, que reificaram certas imagens em circulação até os dias de hoje. Se, no século XIX, os habitantes da América eram representados como extintos, em vias de extinção ou com sinais visíveis de degenerescência, no século XXI, numa reviravolta histórica, os povos ameríndios criaram suas próprias representações e objetos, apropriando-se dos museus como espaços de mobilização pelos direitos e de reconstrução de suas próprias trajetórias, lutas, memórias e identidades. / This master\'s thesis presents an organized catalog of Guarani artifacts that are currently in the technical reserve of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo, from the Paulista Museum (MP) and the Plinio Ayrosa Collection (APA). The main objective is to enable the dissemination of ethnographic collections to the Guarani, collected in different villages and periods, by various collectors. With this, it is intended not only to reconstruct the \"biography of the object\", but also to provide data to add to the historical trajectories of the Guarani groups. However, the elaboration of the Catalog precludes an investigation into Amerindian representations made in museums and based on objects, which have reified certain images in circulation to the present day. If, in the nineteenth century, the inhabitants of America were represented as extinct, on the verge of extinction or with visible signs of degeneracy, in the twenty-first century, in a historical turnaround, the Amerindian peoples created their own representations and objects, appropriating museums as spaces of mobilization for rights and reconstruction of their own trajectories, struggles, memories and identities.

This study examines and demonstrates the value of a matrix approach in the discipline of conservation and the concerns specific to the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects. The chapters identify the relevance of the matrix to current conservation practices through a history of artifact conservation and a discussion of the factors that compromise the conservators' role in the study and preservation of material culture. The discussion evaluates the nature of systematic research collections, the impact of legal issues, and the ethics of including cultural context as important aspects in the development of the matrix approach. The matrix approach provides the conservator with a number of variables or categories of information that may assist in the determination of an appropriate conservation process. In this study, the matrix approach was tested on a number of artifact objects. To provide a common link, all of the objects were characterized by paint on some form of cellulose (wood or a wood-like substrate). The object cases were from both ethnographic and archaeological contexts, and the work involved both laboratory procedures and consideration of non-laboratory (i.e. legal, cultural, ethical) aspects. The specific objects included (1) a probable tiponi of archaeological (Anasazi culture) context, (2) a group of coiled baskets of archaeological (Mogollon culture) context, (3) a kachina doll of ethnographic (Hopi culture) context, (4) a group of prayer sticks of archaeological (Puebloan and Tohono O'Odham) context, and (5) a fiddle of ethnographic (Apache culture) context. By recognizing the unique and diverse aspects of anthropology collections, the conservator who uses a matrix approach is better equipped to work with archaeologists on sites, with curators and exhibit designers in museums, and with claimants (or the descendants of an object's maker) in carrying out the multiple activities frequently involved in the conservation of objects as they exist in an ever broadening and more political context.