Hi Peter,
I came across this on another listserv: --------------------------------------------------------- From: Janet Chernela [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 5:31 PM Subject: Course Indigenous People and Conservation, Brazilian Amazon Kayapo communities of the Brazilian Amazon (Associação Floresta Protegida dos Kayapo), the Department of Anthropology of UnB (Universidade de Brasilia), and the University of Maryland present 6-credit summer course to Kayapo territories in the Brazilian Amazon: Indigenous Peoples and Conservation July 14-Aug. 3, 2011 ANTH 498 C, LASC 448 C: 6 credits http://www.international.umd.edu/sparkplug/sites/studyabroad/content.cfm?id= 1184 Instructors: Janet Chernela, Professor of Anthropology (U. Maryland) ; Laura Zanotti, Assistant Professor of Anthropology (Purdue) ; Barbara Zimmerman, Kayapo Project Director (The Wild Foundation); Adriano Jerozolimski, Coordinator, Associação Floresta Protegida dos Kayapo; and five Kayapo instructors. This six-credit class will consider conservation partnering from the standpoints of indigenous communities and conservationists. The course, taught by two anthropologists, Janet Chernela and Laura Zanotti; two tropical ecologists, Barbara Zimmerman (founder of the Kayapo/CI alliance) and Adriano Jerozolimski; and four Kayapo instructors, combines anthropology, history, and tropical ecology. The course addresses the short and long-term priorities of one of the most prominent indigenous nations of Amazonia, the Kayapo, as it also explores Western valuations of nature, concepts of biodiversity, and tropical forest ecology. The course offers an unusual opportunity to experience conservation strategies as emergent, interactive phenomena. The Kayapo territories of Pará and Mato Grosso state provide a striking example of the efficacy of indigenous organization and strategic partnering in creating an effective barrier to the wave of deforestation and fires sweeping across the southeastern Amazon basin. The indigenous Kayapo, who depend on the forest for their livelihoods, have been working to protect their lands from invasion and deforestation since their first contact with outsiders fifty years ago. Since demarcation of their lands, the Kayapo have actively contested their land rights and frontier expansion, defending the 2,000 km border of the Terra Indigena Kayapo against invasion by ranching, logging, gold-mining and land fraud (grilhagem). Recently the environmental NGO Conservation International entered a partnership with the Kayapo to strengthen border monitoring and to implement sustainable economic development. Today, Kayapo lands form a virtual barrier to widespread deforestation from agriculture and logging. The course takes place in the Kayapo village, Aukre, located in the center of the reserve, and the nearby Pinkaiti Ecological Research Station. The areas are generally closed to outsiders. In a rare partnership with the Kayapo organization, Associação Floresta Protegida,the University of Maryland and UnB have arranged for a small class of students to visit this reserve, live among the Kayapo, and be taught by them along with researchers. The course presents an extraordinary opportunity for students to study indigenous conservation at a multi-landscape scale, as well as a unique indigenous-NGO partnership to protect their lands. For registration, see website http://www.international.umd.edu/sparkplug/sites/studyabroad/content.cfm?id= 1184 For more information including a detailed description and pamphlet, or contact Laura Zanotti <[email protected]> or Janet Chernela <[email protected]>. Janet Chernela, Professor Department of Anthropology, Latin American Studies Center University of Maryland 1111 Woods Hall College Park, Md 20742 Ph: 301-779-8582 FAX: 301-314-8305 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://chernela.net From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Peter Haas Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 9:03 PM To: GEP-ED Subject: [gep-ed] amazonian study tours Can anyone recommend (or refer me to good reference sites) an Amazonian study tour appropriate for first year college students, that provides opportunities for meeting with indigenous peoples and local activists? Thanks much. Any experiences are welcome. My son who will be graduating high school in spring is utterly passionate about saving the Amazonian rainforest. Peter M. Haas Professor Department of Political Science 216 Thompson Hall UMASS - Amherst
