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Photo credit: Bruno Kelly
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Indigenous peoples' collaborator Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips went missing last Sunday from the Javari Valley in the Brazilian Amazon. Note from the Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated Indigenous Peoples and Peoples of Recent Contact A Coordenação da Organização Indígena UNIVAJA, em nome dos povos Marubo, Mayoruna (Matsés), Matis, Kanamary, Kulina-Pano, Korubo e Tsohom-Djapá e o Opi – Observatório dos Direitos Humanos dos Povos Indígenas Isolados e de Recente Contato vêm a público informar que o indigenista Bruno Araújo Pereira, e o jornalista Dom Phillips, de nacionalidade inglesa e correspondente do Jornal The Guardian, encontram-se desaparecidos há mais de 24 horas, no trajeto entre a comunidade Ribeirinha São Rafael até a cidade de Atalaia do Norte, pontos de ida e de retorno respectivamente, no estado do Amazonas. Os dois se deslocaram com o objetivo de visitar a equipe de Vigilância Indígena que se encontra próxima a localidade chamada Lago do Jaburu (próxima da Base de Vigilância da FUNAI no rio Ituí), para que o jornalista visitasse o local e fizesse algumas entrevistas com os indígenas. Os dois chegaram no local de destino (Lago do Jaburu) no dia 03 de junho de 2022 às 19h25. No dia 05/06, os dois retornaram logo cedo para a cidade de Atalaia do Norte. Porém, antes os dois pararam na comunidade São Rafael, visita previamente agendada, para que o indigenista Bruno Pereira fizesse uma reunião com o líder comunitário apelidado de “Churrasco”, com o objetivo de consolidar trabalhos conjuntos entre ribeirinhos e indígenas na vigilância do território bastante afetado pelas intensas invasões. Pelo que consta nas informações trocadas, via Dispositivo de Comunicação Satelital SPOT, eles chegaram na comunidade São Rafael por volta das 06h00, onde conversaram com a esposa do “Churrasco”, visto que este não estava na comunidade, e depois partiram rumo a Atalaia do Norte, viagem que dura aproximadamente duas horas. Assim, deveriam ter chegado por volta de 08h/09h da manhã na cidade, o que não ocorreu. Às 14h, uma primeira equipe de busca saiu de Atalaia do Norte da UNIVAJA, formada por indígenas extremamente conhecedores da região. A equipe cobriu o mesmo trecho que Bruno Pereira e o jornalista Dom Phillips supostamente teriam percorrido, adentrando, inclusive, os “furos” do rio Itaquaí, mas nenhum vestígio foi encontrado. A última informação de avistamento deles é da comunidade São Gabriel – que fica abaixo da São Rafael – com relatos de que avistaram o barco passando em direção a Atalaia do Norte. Às 16h, outra equipe de busca saiu de Tabatinga, em uma embarcação maior, retornando ao mesmo local, mas novamente nenhum vestígio foi localizado. Ressalte-se que Bruno Pereira é pessoa experiente e profundo conhecedor da região, pois foi Coordenador Regional da Funai de Atalaia do Norte por anos. Os dois desaparecidos viajavam com uma embarcação nova, 40 HP, 70 litros de gasolina, o suficiente para a viagem e 07 tambores vazios de combustível. Enfatizamos que na semana do desaparecimento, conforme relatos dos colaboradores da UNIVAJA, a equipe recebeu ameaças em campo. A ameaça não foi a primeira, outras já vinham sendo feitas a demais membros da equipe técnica da UNIVAJA, além de outros relatos já oficializados para a Policia Federal, ao Ministério Público Federal em Tabatinga, ao Conselho nacional de Direitos Humanos e ao Indigenous Peoples Rights International. Paulo Dollis Barbosa da Silva – Coordenador Univaja Fábio Ribeiro – Coordenador Executivo Opii Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund (Amazon RJF) special call Contact: Verónica Goyzueta ([email protected]) The Pulitzer Center joins journalism and human rights organizations in demanding that Brazilian authorities take every measure to find British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, missing since early Sunday in a remote section of Brazil’s Amazonas state. Jonathan Watts, the global environment editor for The Guardian and chair of the Amazon Advisory Committee of the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Journalism Fund, issued the following statement about Pereira and Phillips, a frequent contributor to The Guardian and a long-time friend. "I urge the Brazilian authorities to step up the search for my colleague and friend Dom Phillips and the Brazilian indigenista Bruno Pereira, who have gone missing in a dangerous region of the Amazon after receiving death threats. "Dom is one of the sharpest and most caring journalists I know. He has spent two decades in Brazil and loves the country he has covered as a freelance contributor for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Intercept, and many others. In recent years, his focus on the Amazon has intensified and he is currently taking a year off from his freelance work to research and write a book on the threats facing the rainforest. "He is brave, but careful, which makes me extremely concerned that he has not checked in as planned for more than 30 hours. Dom was passing through an area of the Javari Valley, famous for illegal logging and land grabbing. He was accompanying Bruno Pereira, an experienced expert on Indigenous issues who works for Brazilian government's National Indian Foundation (Funai) and the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Unijava). Pereira has recently received death threats and the local police are aware that there are gunmen in the region who want to kill him. "The full details of what we know are in the attached statement. But there are gaps in our knowledge and slow action in searching for the missing men. Two search missions have been conducted by Unijava, but they found nothing. The authorities have been informed, and there are reports that they will dispatch the army and navy, but at this time of writing, they have yet to dispatch resources to the area. "Every second counts in the rainforest. If Dom and Bruno were injured in an accident or captured by criminals, they will need support urgently. It is still possible that they are fine and I hope they will emerge from the forest astonished by the fuss that has been made about them, but with every passing minute I grow more worried. "All rainforests can be dangerous. But the Brazilian Amazon has become riskier for environmental guardians and reporters in recent years as criminal activity becomes more commonplace and tolerated by the central government and many local authorities. Two years ago, a Funai employee from the Javari Valley was murdered, but nobody was punished. "Let us do everything in our power to ensure Dom and Bruno are found as soon as possible. As rainforest journalists, what happened to them could happen to any of us." Jon Sawyer, executive director of the Pulitzer Center, noted that news of the disappearance of Phillips and Pereira comes as nearly 100 journalists from around the world are gathering this week in Washington, D.C., for the Pulitzer Center’s annual conference, with the rainforest crisis a primary focus. “We join so many others in praying that Phillips and Pereira are safe, and that they will be reunited soon with family and friends,” Sawyer said. “We insist that the Brazilian government deploy every resource toward finding them—and that it stop the incitement of violence and illegal activities in the rainforest region.” Amazonia Section
Latin American Studies Association Activities Report 2021-2022, Submitted June 2022 Prepared by Riccarda Flemmer, Co-Chair & Deborah Delgado Membership: In our second year as a section we have grown our membership to 118 (109 in 2021) members, and we continue to work on expanding our membership. We are also active on social media with 159 (2021: 97) followers on Facebook and 480 Twitter followers (2021: 375). Business Meeting: We held our business meeting via Zoom on May 6 de mayo de 2022, 18-19:30 Pacific with 9 participants from the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Present: Riccarda Flemmer, Section Co-Chair (outgoing), University of Tübingen, Germany; Deborah Delgado, Section Co-Chair, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Sarah J. Townsend, Section Council Member (outgoing), Penn State University, United States; Victoria Saramago, University of Chicago, United States; Gabriel Suchodolsi, PhD Candidate, UCLA, United States; Ashley Lebner, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada; Maritza Paredes, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú; Carmen Gallegos, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. PhD Candidate, United States; Sandra Ríos Oyola, University of Louvain, Belgium Co-chair Riccarda Flemmer welcomed the section members, greeted them from the incoming officers who could not be present because of scheduling issues (Cecilia Oliveira and Amanda Smith), and warmly thanked the outgoing members of the section Executive Committee. She also gave a summary of section accomplishments in our third year. The Section’s Secretary Jessica Solorzano and the Treasurer Kevin Ennis Broner could neither be present but had sent their reports beforehand and informed us about the current status of the Section’s social media accounts and the financial resources. Co-chair Deborah Delgado summarized the process of the Best Book Award (canceled) and the Best Article Award. In the name of the Best Article Selection Committee and the Executive Committee the winning contributions were honored and their authors were awarded with certificates. Most of the meeting was dedicated to planning for the section’s future scheduling of awards and activities (including possible uses of the Section’s $2400 funds) with the following aims: 1) strengthen the exchange and conjoint work of section members; 2) create support for younger scholars, 3) strengthen and maybe formalize relationships with Amazonian Indigenous, activist and research institutions. Several future initiatives, to achieve our objectives, came out of the meeting, see below. Election Results: The resulting slate of new section officers as of June 1, 2022 is as follows:
The following section officers will remain in their current positions until LASA 2022:
In sum the Amazonia Section leadership as of June 2022 is as follows:
Section Activities Term 2021-2022: In this past year, the Section was very engaged in the activities noted above organizing LASA panels, including creating and distributing the Section’s Newsletter, administration and selection of the Best Article award, maintaining and growing our social media presence and managing the Section’s webpage, and engaging our growing membership in the Section’s activity through our email list.
LASA 2022 (Virtual): The section sponsored two panels at LASA 2022 as well as one joint roundtable together with the Peru section. ○ PANEL 1: Community, Women and Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism (Friday, 6 May 2022 14:00:00 - 15:30h Pacific Time), organizer: Katia Yoza-Mitsuishi (PhD candidate, Rutgers University), chair: Diana Córdoba (Assistant Professor, Queen’s University), discussant: Riccarda Flemmer (University of Tübingen) ○ PANEL 2: Militarization of the Amazon and New Environmental Polarizations (Saturday, 7 May, 10:00-11:30 a.m. Pacific time), organizers and chairs: Maria Cecilia Oliveira & Alexandra Tost, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies - Potsdam, discussant: Deborah Delgado Pugley, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú ○ROUNDTABLE together with the Peru section: Defensores ambientales en la Amazonía peruana: avances y retos (Thursday, 5 de Mayo 2022 14:00 - 15:30 Pacific Time), Organizer: Deborah Delgado; [email protected], Chair: Riccarda Flemmer; [email protected].
Section Awards 2022: In March/ April 2022 we held our second annual Amazonia section best article award and had planned a second annual Amazonia section best book award. The calls for the awards were published in our bimonthly newsletter in January 2022. Book Award: We received only one nomination for best book and decided to cancel the award. Article Award: The best article award received 5 excellent nominations and the review panel decided on April 13. The review panel was composed by scholars from different disciplines and geographic backgrounds: Deborah Delgado Pugley (chair), Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, [email protected]; Riccarda Flemmer (chair), Political Science, University of Tübingen/ Free University Berlin [email protected]; Jorge Marcone, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature, Rutgers University, [email protected]; Anne Larson, Principal Scientist, Center for International Forestry Research CIFOR, [email protected]; and Natalia Buitron, Lecturer in the Anthropology of Amazonia, Cambridge University, [email protected]. The winner as well as the author of one honorable mentions were awarded with certificates at our business meeting at the LASA 2022 congress.
Future Activities:
We are proud of our council member Susanna Hecht, who has organized the first ever presidential panel on the Amazon. Congratulations!
“Is There an Amazon Future?” engages some of the Amazon's top researchers and modelers to discuss the implications of current Amazonian development dynamics on the resilience, justice and "Future History" of Amazonia. Integrating science, social science and commitment for Amazonia, this panel highlights some of the most distinguished researchers who integrate a range of social, natural and simulation sciences on large scale and long term Amazon questions. DISCUSSANT AND ORGANIZER Susanna Hecht: Director of the Center for Brazilian Studies at UCLA, and Professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, and the Luskin School of Public Affairs. Dr Hecht, considered one of the founders of the approach known as political ecology has examined Amazonian political economies and their environmental and social impacts. Her work emphasizes historical approaches and local knowledge systems in the search for alternatives. PANELISTS Phillip Fearnside: An Ecologist and Researcher at INPA (The National Institute for Amazonian Research, in Manaus) who has been a relentless field researcher and analyst of the environmental impact of development programs since he began pioneering research on the TransAmazon; His work focuses on the impacts of infrastructure, climate change and regional development policy. Britaldo Soares Filho: Dr Soares is Professor at UFMG and developed and headed up its remote sensing laboratory. His work has explored and modeled climate change, mining, conservation sciences and simulations of policy impacts on deforestation and the dynamics of supply chains . Eduardo Brondizio: Distinguished Professor, Dept of Anthropology University of Indiana is an Anthropologist who engages the intersections of anthropology and environment with a focus on land use change climate Change, institutions, biodiversity, migration and urban dynamics; Cynthia Simmons: Professor, University of Florida is a Geographer who examines the issues of land conflict and contentious change in the land use dynamics of Amazonia. Social movements, the lack of them and DIY agrarian reform, in light of the current large scale geopolitical and infrastructure issues are central themes in her work. Gustavo Oliveira: Assistant Professor, University of California has worked on the dynamics of Chinese investment and the Soy sector, as well as changing processes in agroindustry and flex crops, the new geopolitics of finance and its restructuring and influences in the dynamics of state and corporate politics in agroindustrial sectors. PANEL 1: Community, Women and Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism
Organizer: Katia Yoza-Mitsuishi (PhD candidate, Rutgers University) Chair: Diana Córdoba (Assistant Professor, Queen’s University) Panel Abstract: The Amazon has become one of the most important epicenters of the new extractivist wave promoted by States and transnational actors in Latin America. Under a colonial, patriarchal and capitalist logic, extractivism seeks accumulation through domination, often violent, of women and feminized subjects, and of indigenous communities and their territories. Faced with this critical panorama, new and old forms of articulation of various community actors and movements have become visible to counteract this policy of death and destruction imposed on their territories. This panel sponsored by LASA Amazonia seeks contributions from the Social Sciences and Humanities that reflect on the potential of community, female and/or Indigenous resistance to extractivism. Proposals that revolve around the following questions are welcome: How are resistance movements against extractivism articulated from feminine points of view in the Amazon? What is the role of women as fundamental political subjects in the fight against extractivism? And what possibilities and practices does gender-based thinking open for a political ecology that respects life—human and not human—in the Amazon? Likewise, we hope that this panel contributes ideas about what the community, feminist and/or Indigenous movements of the Amazon offer to think about the current ecological and gender challenges in Latin America. Belén Noroña, Post-doctoral Fellow, Humanities Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, [email protected] Visceral Empathy: Kichwa female dreams and storytelling and calls for solidarity across the Amazon rainforest Kichwa women living in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon resist oil extractive activities and state-sanctioned violence by producing and reproducing dreams and storytelling as survival and solidarity tools. Such ways of knowing blur the human-nature divide in ways in which women identify their bodies as extensions of their territories while recognizing multiple subjectivities and agencies in more than human subjects such as animals and rivers. Kichwa women use narratives and storytelling to denounce Indigenous elimination, state-led violence, domestic violence, and patriarchal extractivism. This paper emerges out of conversations that Kichwa women have among themselves and with rural mestizas, providing insights into grassroots methods of denunciation and solidarity across territories and space. I draw from post-colonial theory, feminist political ecology, decolonial praxis, and Indigenous thought to elaborate ‘visceral empathy;’ this is a concept and methodology that allows us to communicate in solidarity with Kichwa women. It encourages us to listen to Kichwa epistemology to inhabit the space of rupture in which the colonized subject becomes aware of colonial fractures and conflicts experienced by women in their dreams and storytelling. And from this fracture, or space of awareness, those who listen can identify how coloniality operates in their own body and surrounding territory. This exercise reveals how we are all affected by extraction and its violence, encouraging our participation in more significant resistance efforts, capable of solidarity across scale and space. Jenniffer Vargas Vega, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, [email protected] Minería ilegal de oro en la Amazonía Colombiana – Mujeres, extractivismo y resistencias Esta investigación examina las transformaciones en la vida de las mujeres indígenas Murui muina, Andoke, Muinane y Nonuya, quienes viven o vivían en Puerto Santander- área no municipalizada ubicada sobre el medio río Caquetá (Amazonas, Colombia)-. Ellas han padecido los impactos de la minería ilegal de oro y las amenazas por parte de mineros informales o grupos armados al margen de la ley que controlan su extracción. Pese a todo, las mujeres se han organizado para liderar procesos en defensa de la vida y del territorio desde su agenciamiento político. La investigación asocia los cambios en la vida de las mujeres con la lógica extractivista y neoliberal que opera en la economía global. Distingue factores que se entrecruzan como: la presencia situada del Estado colombiano; el conflicto armado; la exclusión y el empobrecimiento de la región amazónica; la cadena de comercialización que favorece a capitales extranjeros y grupos armados. Aunque otros trabajos han abordado el tema, dejan de lado la perspectiva de género frente al extractivismo, incluso desde su relación con el medioambiente, los impactos y las formas de resistir. Esta investigación busca llenar dichos vacíos a partir de una indagación bibliográfica y etnográfica basada en entrevistas a profundidad con enfoque biográfico. Andrea Sempértegui, PhD en Sociologia de la Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study, [email protected] Sosteniendo la lucha, tomándose el espacio: las mujeres amazónicas y el movimiento indígena en Ecuador Esta ponencia se centra en la lucha de un grupo de mujeres indígenas del centro-sur de la Amazonía ecuatoriana, quienes se han organizado contra proyectos petroleros y mega-mineros en sus territorios y que se autodenominan “Las Mujeres Amazónicas.” Examino cómo ellas se han posicionado como actoras visibles dentro del Movimiento Indígena y el movimiento anti-extractivo en el Ecuador, al mismo tiempo que han atraído la atención y el apoyo de muchxs activistas y académicxs. Si bien algunxs académicxs han descrito la organización de las Mujeres Amazónicas como parte de la tendencia latinoamericana llamada “la feminización de las luchas,” esta ponencia ofrece una perspectiva diferente. Mi análisis entiende la organización política de estas lideresas cómo caracterizada por dos elementos: primero, el de “sostener” la lucha territorial indígena; y segundo, lo que algunas lideresas denominan “el tomarse el espacio” dentro de sus organizaciones indígenas. Este análisis, entonces, parte de las auto-representaciones de las Mujeres Amazónicas y desafía interpretaciones que oscurecen cómo estas mujeres han emergido como miembros activos del Movimiento Indígena Amazónico. Esta ponencia destaca como las Mujeres Amazónicas, aunque muchas veces su liderazgo político genere tensiones dentro de sus organizaciones indígenas, están conectadas con la lucha histórica indígena en Ecuador. Es más, a través de formas únicas de movilización y articulación política, la organización de las Mujeres Amazónicas abre espacios necesarios y valiosos para desafiar y “renovar” las estructuras del Movimiento Indígena desde adentro. Victoria Del Pilar Chicmana Zapata, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, [email protected] El rol de las organizaciones de mujeres indígenas (FREMANK y OMIASEC) en la resistencia contra los extractivismos en la Selva Central La Selva Central peruana ha tenido un proceso de intensa colonización desde el s.XX, a través del cual sus habitantes originarios, pueblos indígenas, fueron despojaron de sus territorios. En los 70s se forman las primeras organizaciones indígenas para defender sus territorios y modos de vida. Actualmente, estos pueblos siguen resistiendo frente a extractivsmos, como la tala de madera, el cultivo ilegal de coca y la agricultura intensiva. Las mujeres han tenido un potente rol en la resistencia indígena en la Selva Central y se han movilizado, principalmente, a través de dos organizaciones: la FREMANK (Federación Regional de Mujeres Asháninka, Nomatsiguenga y Kakinte), que surge a finales de los 90s, frente a la ausencia de líderes masculinos por el conflicto armado y para posicionar a las mujeres en la agenda indígena. Más de una década después y tomando en cuenta la experiencia de la FREMANK, se funda la OMIASEC (Organización de Mujeres Indígenas Asháninkas de la Selva Central), para fortalecer la participación de las mujeres en el movimiento indígena regional. La ponencia busca explicar el surgimiento y mantenimiento de ambas organizaciones que, si bien se fundaron en distintos momentos históricos, hicieron un gran trabajo de base para fortalecer los liderazgos de mujeres indígenas y asegurar la seguridad territorial. A partir de ello, se reflexionará acerca de las potencialidades y debilidades que tienen estas organizaciones para proponer alternativas para los extractivismos que amenazan la Selva Central y a la Amazonía. Diana Córdoba, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University, [email protected] Oil Palm in Water Territories: A Feminist political ecology reading Despite the social and ecological impacts of resource extraction, the harnessing of such resources continues to feature prominently in the economic development strategies of the Amazon. While much of the literature on extractivism in the Amazon focuses on the dynamics of the global political economy, there is limited analysis of how unequal gender relations operate on the ground in plantation-affected communities. Women and other feminized subjects are often either excluded from or hyper-exploited within the socio-natural arrangements created by plantation expansion. As has been increasingly documented, gender violence becomes routine in extractive spaces, both in terms of direct violent attacks or slow violence processes for example, the degradation of health as a result of water degradation and other effects of extractivism. Using a feminist political ecology lens, this paper seeks to develop an analysis of the gender relations of agricultural extraction in water territories to understand the complex social processes that create and perpetuate environmental injustices — both social inequality and water degradation — and to visualize feminized resistance and opportunities for transformation. Grounded in innovative methodologies that reveal the embodied experiences of large-scale plantations, I combine complementary field studies with a literature review to analyze the experiences of women and their ordinary political spaces and practices. My primary objective is to identify the relationship between the expansion of large-scale extraction and related slow and direct violence, and the transformations experienced by women who depend on aquatic ecosystems for their livelihoods. PANEL 2: Militarization of the Amazon and New Environmental Polarizations Organizers: Maria Cecilia Oliveira & Alexandra Tost, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies - Potsdam Chairs: Dr. M. Cecilia Oliveira, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies & Alexandra Tost, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, IASS Potsdam Discussant: Deborah Delgado Pugley, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú Panel Abstract: The militarization of the Amazon is a reality common to all countries in the region. Since the devastating fires in 2019, countries such as Brazil, Peru and Bolivia have intensified the use of their armed forces to fight fires and other illegal extractive activities. At first sight, these drastic measures may seem justified in a seemingly ungovernable situation after decades of inaction and inefficiency in combating environmental crime. However, military management of the rainforest has been linked before to border protection policies, infrastructure programs, and migration or drug trafficking containment missions. In countries like Brazil, environmental agencies have become increasingly militarized bureaucracies. Furthermore, militaries have become an important mechanism for managing the health crisis during the current pandemic. The delegation of management authority to armed forces in areas such as the fight against deforestation not only raises doubts about their capacities but also about conflicts of interests. Particularly in countries where environmental defenders, often indigenous, face repression and largely unprosecuted murder. At this panel researchers will analyze the militarization process in the Amazon and its effects. Our interest is to explore a critical and contemporary view of the dynamics and effects of militarization on environmental, territorial and population management in the Amazon. Which interests have supported the use of military forces for environmental management? What are the borders between national security and international security in the Amazon? How does militarization effect and display the state of the environmental crisis, indigeneity and indigenous rights, public health, activism, politics and cultural sovereignty? Bernardo Jurema, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam) Ecopolitics vs geopolitics: The U.S. National Security Global Strategic Objectives and Environmental Governmentality in The Amazon Basin The National Security Institutional Complex (NSIC) was formed in the critical juncture of World War II and became the focal point of the emergence and maintenance of the U.S. global role and of the formulation of U.S. foreign and national security policy. The significant persistence of the pursuit of the postwar strategic goals, despite the successive changes of administrations indicates path-dependent effects that propelled these policy choices into the future and constrained the action of international politics practitioners. By looking at the internal communications of the NSIC over the course of the last decades, , available in the collections contained in WikiLeaks’ Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) database, this paper will show how the NSIC’s four long-term global strategic objectives – namely, to preserve American military supremacy; to safeguard the U.S.’s economic dominance and to challenge and undercut any sort of non-capitalist competing economic system; to contain and ultimately defeat mass-based, nationalist, non-capitalist movements; and to build a world order undisputedly centered around U.S. values and interests – have predominated in the Amazon Basin region and have determined environmental governmentality in this part of the world. The paper will show the interplay of nationalists values, the protection of borders, the effects of the War on Drugs campaigns in the Amazon Basin and how these components are partly byproducts of the U.S.’s military influence. Piero Leirner, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brasil Amazônia Militar, Entre Ideologia e Dispositivo Sociopolítico Esta apresentação tem como objetivo ver a chamada questão amazônica a partir do ponto de vista dos militares brasileiros, em especial dos do Exército. O principal eixo que pretendo dar para conectar uma série de elementos que estão associados a ela é o ideológico, ou seja, aquele em que as mais diversas ordens de problemas estão conectadas visando produzir um senso comum entre os próprios militares a fim de estruturar um campo de ação que é fundamentalmente político. Com isto estarei observando aspectos que transcendem os que poderíamos conceber como mais próximos aos "puramente militares”, isto é, que visam questões sobre táticas e estratégias militares relativas à Amazônia brasileira. Sem menosprezar estes elementos, a ideia aqui é desenvolver um argumento mostrando como tais aspectos estão subordinados a uma ação que visa a política civil, antes mesmo da geopolítica ou mesmo da política militar, compreendendo esta como aquilo que os próprios militares chamam de “expressão militar do poder nacional”. De maneira sintética, poderia dizer que a “expressão militar” encontrou na Amazônia uma via de acesso para começar uma infiltração em múltiplas dimensões da vida social no Brasil, daí seu caráter ideológico, totalizante. Leandro Siqueira (co-author with M. Cecilia Oliveira), Universidade Metropolitana de Santos (UNIMES)/ M. Cecilia Oliveira (IASS Potsdam) Hipertransparência e a militarização do monitoramento da Amazônia A chegada de Jair Bolsonaro à presidência marca uma guinada autoritária e conservadora do Brasil com sérias implicações para o meio ambiente: Enquanto a digitalização da floresta avança, teoricamente ampliando as possibilidades de participação política e a efetividade da proteção ambiental, o atual governo desarticula o agenciamento sociotécnico que permitiu a gestões anteriores reduzirem a destruição da Amazônia com a aplicação de sistemas de monitoramento por satélite e fiscalização do desmatamento da floresta. Embora a prática de Bolsonaro seja comumente rotulada como “desgoverno”, encontramos no governo federal uma atuação fortemente orientada para transpor, ou mesmo para privilegiar, as forças armadas na execução de políticas ambientais que anteriormente eram efetuadas por órgãos e instituições civis. O recente processo de sucateamento do IBAMA e a sua possível “substituição” pelas Forças Armadas na fiscalização ambiental é um exemplo da militarização da gestão ambiental, que pode ser inserida entre as práticas de contra-ativismo ambiental promovidas pelo governo Bolsonaro. Nesta apresentação, buscamos colaborar para o debate sobre a militarização da Amazônia enfocando a gradativa ampliação do papel das forças armadas no monitoramento da floresta por meio do Centro Gestor e Operacional do Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia (CENSIPAN), que coleta dados por meio de sensoriamento orbital, e radares meteorológicos para apoiar as forças armadas na proteção da Amazônia e no combate a crimes ambientais na região. Acreditamos que a análise da militarização do monitoramento da Amazônia seja profícua para problematizar a questão da transparência nas democracias, seus ativismos e o embate com tecnologias de governo do meio ambiente, enfatizando os efeitos de práticas autoritárias sobre relações sociotécnicas. Submitted June 2021 to the Latin American Studies AssociationPrepared by Riccarda Flemmer, Co-Chair; Amanda M. Smith, Co-Chair & Connie Campbell, Secretar Membership
In our second year as a section we have grown our membership to 109 members, and we continue to work on expanding our membership. We are also active on social media with 97 followers on Facebook, membership up 8% over the past quarter, and 202 Twitter followers. Section Activities
LASA 2021 (Virtual)
Business Meeting We held our business meeting via Zoom on May 27, 2021 from 7-8:45pm EDT with 20 participants from the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Present: 1 Amanda Smith, Section Co-Chair (outgoing), University of California Santa Cruz, United States 2 Riccarda Flemmer, Section Co-Chair, University of Hamburg, Germany 3 Martina Broner, Section Treasurer (outgoing), Universidad de Cornell. United States 4 Connie Campbell, Section Secretary (outgoing)/ Section Council Member (incoming), University of Florida and independent consultant, Lima-Peru 5 Jessica Solórzano, Section Council Member (outgoing)/ Section Secretary (incoming), Universidade Federal do Pará, Brasil - Phd Candidate in: Núcleo de Altos Estudos Amazônicos (NAEA), Brazil 6 Sarah J. Townsend, Section Council Member , Penn State University, United States 7 Deborah Delgado, Section Co-Chair (incoming), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Peru 8, Kevin W. Ennis, Section Treasurer (incoming), Brown University, United States 9 Susanna Hecht, Section Council Member (incoming), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), United States 10 Cari Maes, Section Council Member (outgoing), Oregon State University, United States 11 Andrea Sempertegui, University of Giessen, Germany 12 Andres Obando, Universidad del Valle (UNIVALLE), Colombia 13 Bianca Moro de Carvalho, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Brasil 14 Cesar Gamboa, DAR--Derechos, Ambiente y Recursos , Peru 15 Christine Hunefeldt, Von Humboldt Academy, Peru 16 Diana Cordoba, Queens University, Canada 17 Natalia Buitron, University of Oxford, UK 18 Sarah Sarzynski, Claremont McKenna College, United States 19 Victoria Saramago, University of Chicago, United States 20 Francisco Castillo, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP), Peru Co-chair Amanda Smith welcomed the new officers of the section and warmly thanked the outgoing members of the section Executive Committee. She also gave a summary of section accomplishments in our second year. The Section’s Secretary Connie Campbell and the Treasurer Martina Broner informed us about the developments and current status of the Section’s social media accounts and the financial resources. Co-chair Riccarda Flemmer summarized the process of the Best Book Award (postponed) and the Best Article Award. In the name of the Best Article Selection Committee and the Executive Committee the winning contributions were honored and their authors were awarded with certificates. Most of the meeting was dedicated to planning for the section’s future activities (including possible uses of the Section’s $1600 funds) with the following aims: 1) strengthen the exchange and conjoint work of section members; 2) create support for younger scholars, 3) strengthen and maybe formalize relationships with Amazonian Indigenous, activist and research institutions. Several future initiatives, to achieve our objectives, came out of the meeting: 1. Strengthen the exchange and conjoint work of section members:
Election Results The resulting slate of new section officers as of June 1, 2021 is as follows:
The following section officers will remain in their current positions until LASA 2022:
In sum the Amazonia Section leadership as of June 2021 is as follows:
¡Felicidades a Natalia Buitron, ganadora del premio al mejor artículo de estudios amazónicos 2020!
"Autonomy, productiveness, and community: the rise of inequality in an Amazonian society." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 26, no. 1, 2020, pp. 48 - 66. ABSTRACT: In Amazonian societies, autonomy is said to be a core value motivating egalitarian politics. This article shows how the quest for autonomy and productiveness presently sets in motion processes that encroach upon these very values. Among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador, the realization of autonomy and productiveness increasingly depends on the capture of state resources. Shuar interact with the local state as members of relatively recent sedentary communities and through the mediation of elected leaders. In these processes, ‘community’ itself is transformed: being a channel to regenerate domestic livelihoods, it also becomes an end in itself, giving rise to new economistic attitudes while legitimizing inequalities between commoners and leaders. The article suggests that the pursuit of autonomy and productiveness within a process of village formation is central to the transformation of egalitarianism that occurs when small-scale Amazonian polities engage with nation-state politics. También felicitamos a Patricia Vieira y Susanna Hecht y Raoni Rajão, cuyos artículos recibieron menciones de honor. “Rainforest Sublime in Cinema: A Post-Anthropocentric Amazonian Aesthetics.” Hispania, vol. 103, no. 4, 2020, pp. 533-543. ABSTRACT: In this article, I use aerial footage of the Amazon as a guiding thread to argue that the sublime is the most fitting concept to describe our aesthetic response to the representation of Amazonian nature in cinema. In my discussion of rainforest aesthetics, I focus on two Brazilian films, made ten years apart: Glauber Rocha's short Amazonas, Amazonas (); and Iracema, uma transa amazônica (Iracema: An Amazonian Love Affair, 1975), by Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna. I interpret the depiction of nature in both of these films as an instantiation of what I call "rainforest sublime." Despite their similarities, I argue that the two movies resort to sublimity to convey contrasting portrayals of the Amazon. While Rocha goes back to an age-old narrative of economic progress as a response to the natural sublime, Bodanzky and Senna's rainforest sublimity is more nuanced and chimes in with environmentalist discourses in its firm rejection of unbridled development and in its call for a respectful approach to Amazonia. “'Green Hell’ to ‘Amazonia Legal’: Land use models and the re-imagination of the rainforest as a new development frontier." Land Use Policy. July 2020. ABSTRACT: Critical scholars have addressed land use models and related technologies by pointing to their epistemological underpinnings and the social consequences of visibilities and invisibilities induced by these instruments to different forms of governance. More recently, in addition to reaffirming the old dictum that the map is not the territory, some scholars have analyzed how land use models can shape perceptions, narratives and policy, and in this way “make” the territory and the state. In this study, we adopt the notion of sociotechnical imaginaries to highlight the role of land use models and basin-wide development schemes in the emergence of military developmentalism in the Brazilian Amazon. We show that earlier surveys of the Amazon were created in order to substantiate territorial claims and to guide the exploitation of natural rubber and other extractive resources. Mapping of the rivers as arteries with limited upland assessment implied a view of the Amazon as an immutable and invincible nature where resources were given as elements of natural landscapes. The approach of economic sectorial mapping that had dominated earlier surveys began to shift during and especially after World War II in an effort to imagine Amazonia as a separate and identifiable policy space which transformation would be possible with the application of development frameworks, such as the one derived from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Likewise, experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization played a key role in providing land use models and assessment that “proved” the economic viability of large-scale colonization projects. This article points out that the extensive occupation and ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest was also informed by US large-scale planning regimes infused with technoscientific approaches derived mostly from Global North scientific institutions. Those concepts underpinned imaginaries of an integrated region whose “planning surface” would be oriented by the idea of the “Legal Amazon”, subject to a technocratic, centralized and authoritarian style of developmentalism. In this way this paper shows how land use models are not mere representations of the territory but also carriers of sociotechnical imaginaries that coproduce radical changes in social and natural landscapes. MIÉRCOLES, 26 de mayo
9-10:45am EASTERN PANEL: A PLURALITY OF PRACTICES: URGENT APPROACHES TO AMAZONIA Organizer: Riccarda Flemmer, University of Hamburg Chair: Martina Broner, Dartmouth College Abstract: The second edition of this panel organized by LASA’s Amazonia Section brings together members from the social sciences and humanities to address urgent challenges facing the Amazon. A transnational region whose critical condition has global consequences, Amazonia is often represented as an untamed wilderness in need of preservation or development. With this panel, we showcase perspectives that both acknowledge how interactions between human and non-human entities have shaped the forest over thousands of years of history and that engage with debates surrounding the ongoing socio-environmental crisis. As threats to coexistence and plurality in the region increase with the conservative wave that has taken hold i n Latin America, how can scholars, activists, artists , or other knowledge producers provide alternatives? What type of responses result from a disciplinary or interdisciplinary focus? Beyond—or perhaps in conjunction with—academia, what kind of approaches emerge from diverse practices, from activism to art? Presentations: 1. Environmental Crime and Enforcement in The Amazon Basin, Mark Ungar (The Graduate Center CUNY) 2. Paz con la Selva, Kristina Van Dexter (George Mason University) 3. The conflicting hierarchization of nature: legislation, authoritarianism and traditional populations in the Amazon during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1988), Santiago Andrade (Universidade Federal de Rondônia) 4. Entre humano y no humano: la cosmovisión amazónica en murales de Amazonarte Perú, Katia Yoza Mitsuishi (Rutgers) 5. Parana Marañún tsawa: una propuesta activista radial desde el alma del río Marañón, Ana Varela Tafur (Independent researcher) 1-2:45pm EASTERN INTER-SECTION PANEL WITH ERIP: ONE AMAZONIA, MANY ONTOLOGIES: INTERCULTURALITY AND CRISIS Organizer: Lucas Savino, Huron University Chair: Amanda M. Smith, UC Santa Cruz Abstract: The Amazon region is a key geographical and cultural area for interdisciplinary research—science debates over climate change and resource extraction are increasingly engaging with spirituality, the rights of nature, and Indigenous peoples' ontologies. By conceiving culture from individual diversities but also from pluralities and in-betweens, this joint panel sponsored by LASA's ERIP and Amazonia Sections aims to contribute to the reflexive discussion of interculturality and crisis. Contributions focus on interdisciplinary trajectories and cross-culture analysis, seeking to engage diverse audiences from disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. We hope to open discussion about the ways in which race relations have shaped ideas about “crisis” in Amazonian Indigenous peoples' lands. Such areas are historically and constantly threatened by religious, political and private groups. What types of crisis (conceptually and in practice) have such relations generated over time? Can different groups and cultures co-exist in an atmosphere that encourages both better inter-ethnic understanding and interculturalism? How could national and international policies and understandings reflect diverse ontologies and the recognition of both differences and similarities between cultures? Presentations 1. Presupposed Natives’ Worlds and Corporations’ Worlds, Margarita Huayhua (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) 2. Maroon Ontologies and Resistance in Suriname, Simon Lobach (IHEID) 3. Between Words and Worlds: Indigenous Interpreters in the “Ontological Politics” of Prior Consultation about Hydrocarbon Extraction in Peruvian Amazonia, Riccarda Flemmer (University of Hamburg, GIGA Hamburg) 4. Un mundo no tan perdido: Conservación y neocolonialismo en la Serranía de Chiribiquete, Andrés Obando Orozco (University of Pittsburgh) 5. Global Amazon: International Projections, Regional Arrangements, Indigenous Uprisings, Roger Arturo Merino Acuña (Universidad del Pacífico) 3-4:45pm EASTERN AMAZON CITIES: URBAN PROCESSES AND MORPHOLOGIES Organizer: C. Erik Vergel-Tovar, Universidad de los Andes Chair: Simon Uribe, Universidad del Rosario Presentations 1. Lo urbano en la cartografía de la Amazonia: elementos para pensar la producción del espacio nacional y regional, Jorge Aponte Motta (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) 2. Entre la selva y el río: conflictos y colonizaciones urbanas en la historia de Puerto Guzmán, Putumayo, Simon Uribe (Universidad del Rosario) 3. Ciudades amazónicas y espacios de frontera: examinando el papel del transporte y la movilidad en las dinámicas transfronterizas urbana, C. Erik Vergel-Tovar (Universidad de los Andes) JUEVES, 27 de mayo 1-2:45pm EASTERN EXPERIENCIAS DE GESTIÓN DE LA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19 EN COMUNIDADES CAMPESINAS E INDÍGENAS DE LOS ANDES Y LA AMAZONÍA PERUANA: ACERCAMIENTOS INTERDISCIPLINARIOS Organizer: Emmanuelle Piccoli (Université catholique de Louvain) Chairs: Emmanuelle Piccoli (Université catholique de Louvain); Deborah Delgado (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) Discussant: Timothy M. Thomson (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) 1."Nuestra fuerza awajún está haciendo que no nos quedemos en cenizas” Experiencias y respuestas awajún frente a la COVID-19 en el distrito de El Cenepa, Maria Ximena X. Flores Rojas (Universidade Feredal de Rio de Janeiro) 2. Entre la emergencia y la moral humanitaria: Historia y economía política de la salud indígena amazónica en el Perú, Julio C. Portocarrero (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru); Karina Rojas Salvador (Independent Scholar) 3. COVID-19: Construyendo propuestas de apoyo desde los espacios académicos. Experiencia del GIPC. Apoyo Técnico al MINSA, Miryam R. Rivera Holguin (PUCP); Tesania E. Velázquez (PUCP) 4. Estrategias familiares y comunitarias ante la crisis de salud de la pandemia de la COVID-19 en la región de Cusco (Perú), Eric Arenas Sotelo (Universidad Andina del Cusco /PUCP); Emmanuelle Piccoli (Université catholique de Louvain) 5. Networked Indigenous Response to the Pandemic in the Peruvian Amazon: The case of Ucayali, Deborah Delgado (PUCP) 3-4:45pm EASTERN EL AUMENTO DE LAS DESIGUALDADES EDUCATIVAS EN LA AMAZONÍA EN LA INTERSECCIÓN DE LAS EMERGENCIAS SOCIOECONÓMICAS, AMBIENTALES y DE SALUD Organizer: Tuija M. Veintie (University of Helsinki) Chair: Tuija M. Veintie (University of Helsinki) Discussant: Paola Minoia (University of Helsinki) 1. Desafíos de estudiantes y profesores en el acceso a la educación superior en la Universidad Estatal Amazónica Ecuatoriana, Ruth-Irene R. Arias-Gutierrez 2. Diseñando con estudiantes en tiempos de pandemia: intervenciones participativas para apoyar redes de cuidado en la Amazonía ecuatoriana, Nathaly C. Pinto (AALTO School of Arts, Design and Architecture) 3. Redes de apoyo y solidaridad en contextos educativos: fomentando equidad y ciudadanía, Rosaura Gutierrez Valerio (Instituto Superior de Formación Docent Salomé Ureña) 4. Las (im)posibilidades de la educación virtual en la Amazonía ecuatoriana: repensar la Educación Intercultural Bilingüe en tiempos de pandemia, Tuija M. Veintie, (University of Helsinki); Katy Jacqueline Betancourt Machoa (Independent Scholar) 7-8:45pm EASTERN SECTION BUSINESS MEETING Agenda 1. Welcome/Bienvenida 2. Treasurer Report/Informe de tesorera 3. Prize Committee Update/Informe de Premios 4. Elections/Elecciones 5. Past Activities/Actividades pasadas 6. Future Directions/Direcciones futuras 7. Upcoming Panels/Mesas por venir 8. New business/Negocios nuevos SÁBADO, 29 de mayo 3-4:45pm EASTERN MESA REDONDA: DIÁLOGOS EMERGENTES: RECENT RESEARCH ON AMAZONIA Organizer: Susanna Hecht, UCLA Chair: Amanda M. Smith, UC Santa Cruz Presenters: Susanna Hecht - UCLA, Charlotte Rogers - University of Virginia, Patricia Vieira - Georgetown University, Eve Bratman - American University, Simón Uribe - Universidad del Rosario, Christine Hunefeldt - UC San Diego, Connie Campbell - University of Florida Abstract: This roundtable gathers a multidisciplinary group of scholars whose recently-published works on Amazonia offer fresh perspectives on historical and present-day cultural, ecological, and sociopolitical concerns facing the region. Drawing from the fields of environmental studies, geography, history, and literary studies, this conversation opens space for scholars to discuss current methodological and theoretical approaches to studying Amazonia in a highly interactive question and answer format. The panelists will draw connections between their various modes of inquiry into the complex relationships between humans and non-humans in the region. In addition to questions from the audience, several inquiries will guide this dialogue, including: how do historically-constructed myths and representations of the Amazon continue to shape current epistemologies and politics? How are local human and non-human entities within the Amazon linked to global processes of development and environmental policymaking? What do analyses of the Amazon inform and shape emergent, interdisciplinary fields like ecocriticism, environmental humanities, and political ecology? Ultimately, this roundtable offers a cross-disciplinary dialogue on the current debates and research animating the field of Amazonian studies and illuminates areas for future research. |