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Debates on global warming and environmental destruction dominate the political agenda in global forums and national development policies. In this course, we will focus on the concepts of nation and nature that permeate these debates. Departing from the concept of Anthropocene, we will analyze specially the case of Amazon Rainforest and the conflicting positions concerning its preservation or use represented by global, national and Amerindian interests. In 2019, fires destroyed large sections of the forest in Brazil and Bolivia, which yielded an international outcry directed at the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro. In defense of his anti-environmentalist policies, he opposes national development and preservation, seen as a disguise for neocolonialist land-grabbing plans. From this perspective, nation and nature are seen as mutually excluding options. On the other hand, Amerindians conceive nature as multiple, while human culture is seen as just one variation of nature, what Viveiros de Castro (1998) calls “multinaturalism”. From this perspective, non-human actors (animals, spirits, rivers, the forest itself, etc.) have their own interest (“cosmopolitics”) and may play a central role in the conception of the world, establishing multiple perspectives. During the course, we will discuss also the work of two Amerindian thinkers, Davi Kopenawa (2013) and Ailton Krenak (2015). |
