From WIPO to Vale do Ribeira and Back
Global (Dis)connections, Indigenous Knowledges and Narratives of Protection
Vale do Ribeira, the largest reserve of Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, is home to quilombola and caiçara communities. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in Geneva, is responsible for regulating intellectual property rights. What can possibly connect these places? In both, narratives around the meaning of indigenous knowledges and their protection are being constructed and negotiated. Aiming to produce an ethnography of global connection, this work looks at (dis)connections be...
Éditeur : Graduate Institute Publications
Lieu d’édition : Genève
Publication sur OpenEdition Books : 23 mars 2021
ISBN numérique : 978-2-940600-25-0
DOI : 10.4000/books.iheid.8182
Collection : eCahiers de l’Institut | 36
Année d’édition : 2021
Vale do Ribeira, the largest reserve of Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, is home to quilombola and caiçara communities. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in Geneva, is responsible for regulating intellectual property rights. What can possibly connect these places? In both, narratives around the meaning of indigenous knowledges and their protection are being constructed and negotiated. Aiming to produce an ethnography of global connection, this work looks at (dis)connections between these two spaces. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, it analyzes the creation of legal categories related to indigenous peoples and local communities in the international arena, as well as at the points of articulation between the international and the local realm. The analysis demonstrates how articulation and dispossession have been key to creating the discussion in both spheres. The conclusion indicates that the narrative of protection of indigenous knowledge through intellectual property rights emerges through friction and is just one narrative among others.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the Vahabzadeh Foundation for financially supporting the publication of best works by young researchers of the Graduate Institute, giving a priority to those who have been awarded academic prizes for their master’s dissertations.
Gabriela Balvedi Pimentel completed her master’s degree in Anthropology and Sociology of Development at the Graduate Institute in 2019, with a focus on legal, political and environmental anthropology. Before that, she pursued her qualifying legal studies in Brazil, being registered at the Brazilian Bar Association since 2015.
Gabriela has worked with human rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, gender equality and corporate governance, at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and FTI Consulting. Outside of work, her passions include dance, cooking, literature and her plants.
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