Repatriation of the Tupinambá cape, Educational Partnerships in Brazil about Indigenous Peoples on Wikipedia

For several years, Wikimedia Brasil has collaborated with the Laboratório Mulheres indígenas na Wikipédia (Indigenous Women on Wikipedia Lab) (Lamiw), a digital humanities initiative founded in 2020 at the Instituto de História da Universidade Federal Fluminense (Institute of History of the Fluminense Federal University) (IHT-UFF). Coordinated by Professor Elisa Frühauf Garcia, the project seeks to continuously promote the dissemination of academic knowledge about Indigenous peoples on Wikipedia, contributing to the effective implementation of Brazil’s Law No. 11,645/2008, which requires the teaching of Indigenous history and culture in all Brazilian schools.

Currently, articles created or improved by Lamiw have collectively surpassed half a million page views. In addition, in 2024, the initiative became the first History lab to be recognized as a social technology initiative by UFF, a designation that awarded projects with the potential to address social issues through practical solutions. The project was also invited to join the INCT (In)atividade Física e Saúde (INCT Physical (In)activity and Health). Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (National Institute of Science and Technology) (INCT) is an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to addressing complex problems through scientific and technological knowledge.

Classroom activity inspired by the repatriation of the Tupinambá cape

Second, after a period in which participants developed their research under the guidance of the professor, we held a meeting focused on wikifying the content produced for publication on the platform. Wikimedia Brasil also supported the activity by creating and maintaining a dedicated Wikipedia page and by setting up an Outreach Dashboard program to monitor and track the metrics achieved.

The main motivation for the activity was the return to Brazil, in 2024, of one of the Tupinambá capes that had been held in Denmark. A Tupinambá cape is a sacred garment used in different ceremonies and rituals by various Brazilian Indigenous peoples. In 2024, eleven capes made in the 16th and 17th centuries were known to exist, ten of which were held in five European countries. The piece, previously preserved at a museum in Copenhagen, is now housed at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. During the activity, students improved the existing Wikipedia article, which at the time contained limited information.

Francis Kéré, the first African architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, was inspired by the Tupinambá cape during a visit to the Museu Nacional, incorporating it into the design of the Biblioteca dos Saberes (Library of Knowledge), for which he is the architect. The library is a new project that will be built in Rio de Janeiro and will establish connections, through both its architecture and its curatorial approach, with Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures.

In the context of the cape’s repatriation, students engaged in the creation of the Wikipedia article about Glicéria Tupinambá, an Indigenous artist, professor, and leader with an extensive history of research on Tupinambá capes and direct involvement in the process of returning the piece to Brazil.

The creation of a biographical Wikipedia article about a living Indigenous person also provided students with the opportunity to discuss the ethical considerations involved in this process. Although permission is not required to create a Wikipedia article, the professor noted that, in the case of Indigenous peoples, this practice can reproduce another form of violence by excluding them from the process. For this reason, she invited Glicéria to review the article before its publication and to actively contribute to its improvement by providing reliable sources. 

Glicéria Tupinambá’s Wikipedia article has already been translated into English as part of an Art History course at a university in the United States. According to Professor Elisa Frühauf Garcia, coordinator of Lamiw, this is particularly significant because it allows Brazilian content to circulate internationally.

In addition to the Wikipedia articles about Glicéria Tupinambá and the Tupinambá cape, the 2024 activity also led to improvements to articles about other Indigenous figures, including  Joênia Wapichana, Clara Camarão, Arariboia and Sônia Guajajara. 

Now, in 2026, Wikimedia Brasil and Lamiw have once again partnered to carry out the initiative in the same course, this time with a new group of students and an even broader list of Wikipedia articles. Through this new edit-a-thon, which took place throughout the first semester of this year, students created and improved articles about notable Indigenous figures, the histories of different Indigenous peoples, the history of Indigenous slavery in Brazil, and other related topics. The Outreach Dashboard for this initiative is available here. 

For Professor Elisa Garcia, sharing knowledge produced at the university with the broader public is a way of returning public investment to society while generating other positive impacts as well. According to her, “by editing Wikipedia articles about Indigenous women, Indigenous peoples, and Brazilian cultural heritage, students develop not only research and writing skills, but also a critical awareness of ethics, representation, and social responsibility. This experience expands their understanding of the processes involved in the production and circulation of information, while also addressing historical epistemic inequalities and encouraging reflection on the role of technologies in shaping contemporary knowledge”.

Challenges 

The implementation of the activity, both in 2024 and 2026, faced recurring obstacles common to different educational programs developed at Brazilian universities. In general, these are related to limited access to reliable internet and computers. The lack of computers or laptops, in particular, proved to be a complicating factor in the activities documented here, as it made the learning process more difficult, since editing on mobile devices is still less intuitive. 

To address this challenge, we have encouraged students to engage in continuous and asynchronous editing throughout the semester, beyond the articles selected for the edit-a-thon. Through tasks involving edits of varying levels of complexity, students can gain confidence to make more substantial contributions to the platform. In addition, we maintain an email communication channel with students so that questions can be addressed between the in-person workshops. 

Despite these challenges, the positive outcomes of the initiative remain significant. As Professor Elisa Garcia noted, “Wikipedia has become an increasingly powerful educational tool, capable of bringing academic production closer to the general public and promoting more participatory, collaborative, and inclusive teaching practices. In the context of the Lamiw, based at UFF and recognized by the university as a social technology initiative since 2024, the platform serves as a space for the collective construction of knowledge and the exercise of digital citizenship”.

References 

GARCIA, Elisa Fruhauf. “A história como uma tecnologia social: o Laboratório Mulheres Indígenas na Wikipédia.” In: MÜLLER, Angélica; SANTOS, Ynaê Lopes dos; BARRETO, André (eds.). Escrever (n)o tempo presente: ensaios e experiências (forthcoming). 

Glicéria Tupinambá. In: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glic%C3%A9ria_Tupinamb%C3%A1. Accessed: May 5, 2026.

Manto Tupinambá. In: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available at: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manto_tupinamb%C3%A1. Accessed: May 5, 2026.

Wikimedia Brasil. Wikipédia 25 anos: produzindo uma história pública [Wikipedia 25 Years: Producing a Public History]. February 18, 2026. Available at: https://wmnobrasil.org/2026/02/18/wikipedia-25-anos-produzindo-uma-historia-publica/. Accessed: May 5, 2026.