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Visions of the Amazon: What Has Shifted, What Persists, and Why This Matters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Candace Slater
Candace Slater*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

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For many people throughout much of the world today, the terms “Amazon” and “rain forest” are synonymous—indeed, it seems as if the two must have always intertwined. However, while this much-invoked realm of shimmering, fragile nature, together with its ferocious jungle alter ego, does have deep roots in the past, its present-day incarnation has much to do with the global environmental movement that began emerging in the 1960s and has continued to morph over time. This article examines contemporary representations of the Amazon with an eye to what is now changing, as well as why. It underscores the key role that these depictions play in shaping policy, which gives them an importance far transcending purely narrative concerns.

Resumo

Resumo

Até recentemente, a imagem popular prevalecente da Amazônia Brasileira, e da “A Amazônia” em geral, manteve-se sendo a esmeralda intacta da floresta tropical cujo reverso mais problemático oscilou entre imagenes de uma selva —muitas vezes feroz mas perversamente fascinante— e um inferno desnudo. Embora essa ideia de um reino natural bifacetado não tenha de maneira nenhuma desaparecido, em muitos casos se transformou em novas imagens que coexistem com outras representações de um espaço mais povoado. As páginas a seguir examinam algumas das principais representações gráficas e, antes de tudo, narrativas que aparecem atualmente na Internet e em um romance paticularmente influente, com um olhar ao que se transformou ou surgiu com o tempo e o que permanece. Embora a grande maioria dessas representações remetam aos primeiros exploradores europeus, as formas peculiares que ganham nos dias de hoje tanto refletem quanto ajudam a modelar as políticas de maior impacto na vida das pessoas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , 2015 , pp. 3 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I thank Julia Lourenço and William Gromer Smith for their editorial help.

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