ICOFOM Study Series, 43, 2015 218 Confluences and trends of Brazilian museology: the specificity of a theoretical and practical field Bruno Brulon Soares Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro – UNIRIO, Brazil Luciana Menezes de Carvalho Federal University of Alfenas – UNIFAL/MG, Brazil Henrique de Vasconcelos Cruz Joaquim Nabuco Foundation – FUNDAJ, Brazil Introduction: conceiving a museology in the Brazilian context In August, 2013, at a conference given at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro – UNIRIO, in a meeting dedicated to the discussion of Museology Terminology 146 , FrançoТs MaТresse ТnvТted researcСers from different regions of the world to consider translating the terms and concepts of museology, not merely to their mother languages but in the distinguishing contexts in which these terms are currently applied. The present paper is an attempt to make such a cultural, linguistic and historic translation to “museologв” conceТved Тn tСe BrazТlТan conteбt. TСe term “museologв” аas Тntroduced to BrazТl by the Curso de Museus (Museums Course), created in 1932 at the Museu Histórico Nacional – MHN (National Historical Museum) in Rio de Janeiro. The course, created in the facilities of the MHN during the management of Rodolfo Augusto de Amorim Garcia 147 (1873- 1949), was further expanded by Gustavo Dodt Barroso 148 (1888-1959) when he occupied the same position. The course – along with the notТon of “museologв” developed Тn tСe countrв – was the result of two major confluences. The first one, endogenous to the Brazilian context, 146 Joint meeting between CIDOC (International Committee for Documentation), ICTOP (International Committee for Training of Personnel), and ICOFOM (International Committee for Museology) that was held at UNIRIO in August 15, 2013, during the 23rd ICOM General Conference, Тn order to dТscuss tСe tСeme “EбplorТng museology terminology: from conceptualization to knoаledge transfer”. 147 Lawyer, writer, linguist and historian, Garcia was the director of the MHN between December 1930 and November 1932, when he took the post of director of the National Library. 148 Writer, politician and journalist, he was one of the most active Brazilian intellectuals in the regionalist and nationalist movement in the first decades of the 20 th century in Brazil. He was director of the MHN from 1922 to 1930, and again from 1932 to 1959. was related to a demand for professionals to work at the MHN since its foundation in 1922. The second one, which was exogenous, consisted of the international ideas and intellectual trends mostly disseminated by the Office international des musées – OIM (International Office of Museums) 149 after the 1920s. Todaв, “museologв” Тn BrazТl refers to a аell- defined field of professionals (a certified degree in Museology and registration in the State’s professТonal councТl are demanded for anв “museologТst”) and a renoаned academТc discipline (in 2014, there were 15 undergraduate courses and 4 post-graduate courses in museology created in the country 150 ). Therefore, the term usually generates less confusion than it did in the past. This paper will consider the different streams that led to the configuration of a disciplinary and professional field in Brazil, as well as the current trends that enable us to conceive the eбТstence of a “Museologia” 151 in the country – despite the strong influence from international museologies along its development. This Brazilian museology has its own specificity and is related to a complex set of questions intrinsic to this sociocultural scenery. 149 The idea of creating an International Office of Museums dates from 1925 by the art historian Henri Focillon. It was conceived as an establishment to promote the relationship among different museums in the world, an organization of international exchanges aiming to consolidate the information on museums from all over the world. The OIM would be the antecedent of ICOM, and its main publication, the review Mouseion, would originate the review Museum International (Mairesse, 1998, p.25). 150 The existing undergraduate courses are spread in different regions of the country: in the South (4 courses), the Southeast (4 courses), the Center-West (2 courses), the North (1 course) and the Northeast (4 courses), all connected to Brazilian universities, mostly federal ones. 151 The term “Museologia” in Brazil has a peculiarity: in most documents and authors, it is found with its first letter capitalized. Today, this use of the word reflects the need by some authors and professionals to emphasize the possible existence of a field of Museology in the country.