Tupã Plural is an exposition that aims at highlighting the municipality as a place with several cultures. From its foundation, Tupã revealed its intercultural vocation, in which the experience and exchanges marked the identity and memory of the city and its inhabitants. It is structured in five modules:
Initially, through a multimedia mockup, aspects of the region’s colonization are presented going back to the end of the XIX century when the west was an “empty wilderness inhabited by Kaingangs”. “I Believe in Tupan” is a phrase by Luiz de Souza Leão, one of the city founders who were entrepreneurs that went to the west of São Paulo to expand coffee plantations. It was the entrepreneurial spirit that called the attention of several groups of immigrants that helped build the city.
This module highlights the presence of Indians in the region, either in the past or the present. It presents historical information about the Kaingang in the west of São Paulo and the establishment in 1912 of the Indian Villages by the SPI (Indian Protection Service), the present Vanuíre and Icatu Indian Lands (IL). The module values the cultural resistance of the Kaingangs and Krenaks, groups that came to the region as of the 1950’s.
Presentation of Indian toys from the museum collection and illustrations by José Lanzellotti acquired by the State Culture Council in 1972 that partially represent the diversity of Indian groups in Brazil.
This module explains the wealth of the museum’s Indian feather collection with the presentation of aesthetic styles of 14 people, such as: Guajajára, Kaapór (Urubu), Karajá, Kayapó, Kayapó-Metyktire, Meinaku, Suyá, Tapirapé, Wajãpi, Waurá, Xavante, Yanomámi; probably the Munduruku and Asurini from Tocantins.
In this exhibit module, the public has access to the wealth of the museum’s basketwork and fabric artifacts. The basketwork is ethnographically organized according to the use, such as the kitchen, means of transportation and ritual and personal artifacts. The fabrics are grouped ethnographically by personal comfort, clothing and adornment, besides means of transportation. This module includes 21 people or cultures, such as: Alto Xingu, Asuriní, Bakairí, Baníwa, Bororo, Canela, Chiquitano, Ethnic group from Alto Rio Negro, Ethnic group from Alto Xingu, Guajajára, Kaingang, Kamayurá, Karajá, Karib, Kayapó-Metyktire, Sateré-Mawé, Tukáno, Waurá, Xavante, Yanomámi, Yawalapiti.
