O Conselho de Fiscalização das Expedições Artísticas e Científicas no Brasil
ciência, patrimônio e controle
Keywords:
Conselho das Expedições Artísticas e Científicas no Brasil – CFEACB, scientific expedition, history of science – BrazilAbstract
The work covers the creation and activity of the Conselho das Expedições Artísticas e Científicas no Brasil (CFEACB), organization in charge of controlling and licensing national and foreign expeditions with scientific and artistic purposes, by checking all kinds of materials collected and produced during these incursions, due to the fact that these materials were regarded as national scientific patrimony. The Council was analyzed against the backdrop of the historical process that surrounded it and the study relates its history to an international scenario marked by economic and political crises between 1933 and 1956. It is organized in three chapters. The first presents the discussion concerning questions related to Nature, Science (especially Botanic, Zoology and Anthropology), the control of the territory and geologic exploration, among others. In the second chapter, the negotiations between the Ministério da Guerra and the Ministério das Relações Exteriores are brought to the foreground. These Ministries perceived the lack of surveillance of the Brazilian borders as the main source of entrance of foreigners and expeditions with various objectives and proposed the creation of a controlling organ. However, it was the Ministério da Agricultura, which controlled the majority of the research institutions at that moment, and that led it to take charge of the movement for the creation of CFEACB. Finally, in the third chapter, the members of the Council are divided in two groups: the formulators of the project for the control of expeditions and the national patrimony; those responsible for executing the project. Furthermore, it highlight the strategic role played by the Council in controlling the circulation of people in the country and also the technical improvement of its professionals and therefore its ambiguities and its national importance due to its responsibility in designating representatives for each state of nation.