Dear member of the Société des Américanistes,

We are pleased to announce that the society’s next conference will be held on Thursday, October 9, 2025, at 6 p.m. in the cinema room of the Quai Branly Museum.

Rafael Fernandes Mendes Junior (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) will present: The Land Without Evil: A Guarani Saga

After the Chaco War (1932-1935), Guarani groups left the border between Paraguay and Brazil, guided by their shaman, and embarked on a journey of several thousand kilometers to the northern states of Pará and Tocantins. The study of this double migration, which until now had never been the subject of ethnographic investigation, reveals its significance yesterday and today for these groups and their descendants, as well as the social transformations it causes—or results in—, in space and time: the division of the group into smaller units and its dispersion; interethnic encounters and marriages with whites and other indigenous populations; conversion to Christianity and involvement in a movement to affirm their culture; and finally, the transformations of the concept of the individual. The combination of interviews (in Portuguese and Guarani) and historical sources thus allows for a renewed approach to the famous myth of the Land Without Evil, first reported by ethnologist Curt Nimuendaju and then popularized by Hélène and Pierre Clastres.

The lecture will be given in French.

Please go directly to the museum entrance (37 quai Branly), without going through the ticket office. The Vigipirate security plan requires museum security guards to refuse entry to visitors carrying suitcases (even cabin-size), travel bags, backpacks, sports bags, etc.