Artisans use ancestral technologies to preserve culture in Brazil

Marcela Fernandes, a researcher at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Bauru, Brazil, identifies the traditional embroidery of the Unidos de Santa Fé group as a form of ancestral technology.

The group participates in the bumba meu boi festival in São Luís, Maranhão. Fernandes argues that technology is not limited to industrial or digital innovations from places like Silicon Valley in the United States. She uses the concepts of cosmotécnica and tecnodiversidade to explain how cultural production reflects specific worldviews.

In this context, the embroidery, singing, and dancing of the festival function as technologies that preserve historical knowledge and drive the creative economy. The embroidery designs represent local themes such as religion, flowers, and the harvest. These traditional practices structure the annual cycle of the bumba meu boi festival. Fernandes published her findings in a 2024 book titled A arte na contemporaneidade.