uncontacted indigenous groups

Two or three weeks ago, newspapers around the world showed photos of an indigenous community located in the Brazilian state of Acre not far from Peru. Apparently the group had never been contacted by the majority culture (unless you count flying over their village as contact), and the hostility shown by at least two of the men from the community - their bodies painted, they were pointing arrows at the plane - lived up to our stereotypes in a picturesque fashion.

The issues, of course, are complex, if we think about what it means deliberately not to make contact with a community - and ask, also, just why these pictures were released at this time. Possibly the intent was to draw attention to illegal logging in the area, especially in Peru, which might have driven this group over the border into Acre. Certainly it is hard to see their way of life continuing unchanged once the road we're studying is complete. Some of these issues are introduced in an article from the New York Times that you might like to read if you haven't seen the story elsewhere.

who owns the Amazon?

Brazilians are often concerned that other countries have designs on that part of the Amazon basin which falls within its borders; they fear that Americans and Europeans are starting to think of the Amazon as "too important to leave to the Brazilians". That particular quote actually comes from a recent editorial in The Independent, a leading English newspaper.

If you read the whole editorial (which I hope you will), you might find a different way of reading that phrase which sounds a bit less threatening to Brazilian sovereignty. After all, Brazilians themselves have said for years that their forests provide vital services to the rest of the world, and the editorial could be read as agreeing with that stance - saying, in effect, that the rest of the world ought to pay the Brazilians for keeping their forests intact. But the wording is such that it's hardly surprising that Brazilians are sensitive on this score (just as Canadians are nervous about American refusal to recognise their sovereignty over much of the Arctic).

The New York Times ran a similar article not long ago quoting, I believe, Al Gore to the effect that the Amazon was an international asset. What do you think of this idea? If the Amazon belongs to the world, where do you stop?

recommended magazine on Latin America

I recommend - and subscribe to - NACLA, a magazine on Latin America that comes out, if I recall, about four or five times a year. Admittedly its coverage goes beyond our region of interest, but you are likely to find that it gives you valuable background.

Health warning: it is of a somewhat progressive (leftist) slant, which may not appeal to all readers of this blog. I find it usually thoughtful and well-informed, but some of you may like to dig out a journal with a different perspective and let us know.

National Geographic article on Bolivia

I'm back from a productive visit to the region we'll be visiting in January, and shall have more to say about it in future posts.

For now, let me just draw to your attention an article on Bolivia in the latest issue of National Geographic. I haven't yet had a chance to read it all - you might want to note that there are a number of related articles, which can be found by following the links - but it does seem to be a helpful introduction to the country in which we'll be starting our visit to the region.

As I've found Guillermoprieto's work useful in the past, you may eventually find this article amongst the required reading for our course. In the meantime, however, perhaps you'd like to look at it simply out of interest :-)