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 :-)

World Social Forum to be held in the Amazon region, January 2009

Those of you interested in the way that environmental issues meld with questions of social justice may already know about the World Social Forum. At the end of January next year it will be held in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon (and in fact I'd hoped at first to include it in our itinerary).

The Forum can give the impression of lacking form and focus, but that's in the nature of a movement whose legitimacy derives from the grassroots. I went to the second Forum (in 2002), and found it exhilarating, even inspiring.

Further details of the 2009 Forum (in Belém) can be found here - though, as I say, things are a little up in the air right now.

Luther students have attended the Forum in the past, usually as part of a January course. At least once, though, a small group of students made an independent trip, yet with some financial support from the College. As we'll be in the region already, perhaps it would be cost-effective for a few of us to include the Forum on our way home.

This is very much a long shot but, if you're interested and highly motivated, we could look into it further. And, in any case, it's a good idea to keep an eye on what goes on at the Forum.

BBC special on the Amazon (recommended)

You might like to take a look at today's special on the Amazon put out by the BBC World Service.

At this early stage, when our own journey to the region is still a long time off, a general overview of this kind might be useful. Admittedly, I haven't had much of a chance to look it over in detail myself (though I see it mentions a book about Chico Mendes, whose home town of Xapuri we'll be visiting). Perhaps some of you might like to report back on anything you find of interest.

MAP and IIRSA links

If you're new to the blog, let me urge you to follow up on the MAP and IIRSA links found among permanent text in the right hand panel of this page.

There's no specific content for you to locate - on the contrary, I encourage you to rummage around and find matters of interest. On the MAP site, if you are able to read Spanish (or Portuguese), you'll find a greater range of material than if you limit yourself to English.

Talking of which, I also encourage you to sign up for MAP news feeds to your e-mail inbox; they don't come very often, and they're not extensive. They do, though, require you to read Spanish (or Portuguese), as in this case there's no English version. If, however, you come across an item of news in Spanish, perhaps you could translate the gist of it and publish it on this blog?

There may be a similar news feed on the IIRSA site - I haven't yet checked.