Doing together with the Mebengokré Indigenous people: notes on how Indigenous protagonist can shape academic anthropology in Europe

In this presentation, I will explore how the use of digital tools is reshaping ethnographic, social, and political relationships between anthropologists and Indigenous communities in today’s academia, from a series of experiences in the Czech Republic. Over more than two decades of collaboration with the Mebengokré people of the Brazilian Amazon, we have engaged with technologies such as the Internet, smartphones, and various digital communication and sharing platforms. These tools have opened new and unexpected avenues for ethnographic work, enabling collaborative writing of academic texts, co-curation of exhibitions, and joint development of educational initiatives. At the same time, digital communication has transformed personal interactions, introducing new forms of everyday connection, like the continuous exchange of images and videos through messaging apps, the creation of shared digital archives, and the possibility of unprecedented Indigenous presences at university in Europe. These shifts are part of a broader movement of Indigenous agency and visibility in both Brazilian and global contexts, integrating political and epistemological dimensions. The presentation focuses on the intersections of ethnographic, social, and political practices, arguing that digital tools foster innovative ways of forming relationships rooted in ongoing, mutual sharing among participants, including the chance to make Indigenous people protagonists in European universities in the first person. The diverse experiences, meanings, and practices associated with Indigenous protagonism in academia, whether shared or divergent, demand continuous epistemological reflections and the development of creative strategies to foster more symmetrical relationships through a multiplicity of digital and epistemological ventures and involvements in academia. The thesis is that to effectively and affectively create a communal academic panorama, it is required to move beyond the inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies, but instead to let these shape and transform the hegemonic practices toward the joint construction of a future, inclusive and plural academia.