INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES CO-CREATING OPEN KNOWLEDGE IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

Contemporary discussions on Open Science highlight the need to broaden the participation of historically under-represented groups in the production, circulation and validation of knowledge. In this context, this study investigates how institutional practices and outreach activities in university libraries promote intercultural mediation and the valorisation of indigenous knowledge within the academic environment. A qualitative approach of a descriptive-exploratory nature was adopted, based on a collective and instrumental case study, focusing on the activities led by indigenous people during the 5th Book and Library Week at the Federal Rural University of the Amazon. The procedures involved triangulation through bibliographic and documentary research and direct observation, with content analysis of the data. The interpretation was organised around two themes: orality and communicative acts of resistance; and material culture as a decolonial source of information. The results indicate that the presence of communities from the Aruã, Arawá, Tembé, Galibi Marworno and Tupinambá ethnic groups, combined with the exhibition of their handicrafts, increased the visibility of graphic representations, artefacts and orality legitimate expressions of memory, identity and knowledge. It was observed that the library served as an effective space for mediation, fostering dialogue between academia and traditional knowledge line with Open Science, cognitive justice and ethnic and racial equality. It is concluded that such initiatives strengthen inclusive information practices and contribute to the preservation of ancestral knowledge. It is recommended that theoretical and empirical research be expanded to include other indigenous communities in the Amazon, from the perspective of Information Science and Open Science.