Janet Chernela

Brazil Anthropology: Conservation, Social Life, and Development among the Kayapo Indigenous People of the Southeastern Amazon

ANTH498C / 698C / LASC 448

Jul 20-Aug 9, 2008

This six-credit class will consider conservation partnering from the standpoints of indigenous communities and conservationists.  The course, taught by an anthropologist and an ecologist, combines anthropology, history, and tropical ecology.  The course addresses biodiversity concepts, tropical forest ecology, and conservation; as it also explores valuation of nature, knowledge of plant and animal interactions, and the short and long-term priorities of one of the most prominent indigenous nations of Amazonia, the Kayapo. 

The Amazon basin is the largest remaining tract of tropical rainforest in the world.  Many now attribute this fact to occupation of the land by indigenous peoples who have managed and defended it for millennia.  In the face of growing threats to both the landscape and people, the relationship of indigenous peoples to the forests in which they live has received new interest.  From a strategic standpoint, a number of indigenous groups of the Brazilian Amazon now participate in arrangements of "Partnering" with outside entities, intended to increase security of their lands. We will visit and work with one such innovative partnership in which indigenous peoples participate in decision-making and knowledge-sharing.

The Kayapo of the southeastern portion of the basin, have been especially impressive in their organized, militant protection of their lands.  Kayapo territories now represent one of the largest remaining stretches of neotropical rainforest in the world.  The Kayapo, who continue to practice hunting and horticulture in their reserve, are also impressive negotiators for their rights.  They are best known for their precedent-setting triumph in garnering international support to halt plans to build a large hydroelectric project in 1988. 

The Pinkaiti Research Station has been in Aukre, center of the Indigenous Area Kayapo, for fifteen years.  During this time they have studied the sustainability of the hunting practices and their impact on fauna in the Kayapo Reserve.  Pinkaiti Station, now part of Conservation International, is not generally open to outsiders.  In a rare partnership with Pinkaiti, the University of Maryland has arranged for a small class of students to visit this reserve, live among the Kayapo, and be taught by them along with researchers.

The objectives of the field course are to gain an understanding of: 1) socio-economic dynamics of the Amazonian frontier and drivers of deforestation; 2) tropical forest biology with special attention to regeneration; 3) a forest-dependent indigenous culture and its struggle to determine the future of its land and culture.  Within conservation and development, the course will address the causes of deforestation and threats to Kayapo land and culture (ranching, logging, goldmining); territorial control by the Kayapo; and new and recent partnerships. 

The class is available at the graduate and undergraduate levels.  For more information, contact chernela@gmail.com.

Program Staff

Dr. Janet Chernela
Faculty Director

Prof. Janet Chernela is an anthropologist who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon for over twenty-five years. She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Latin American Studies Center of the University of Maryland, and teaches classes in anthropological approaches to the environment, and the indigenous peoples of Brazil. Dr. Chernela is a former faculty member of the Dept. of Ecology at the Brazilian Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) in Brazil and has worked with environmental NGOs in conservation projects among indigenous peoples. She is author of the book, The Wanano Indians of the Brazilian Amazon: A Sense of Space. The project will also rely on the leadership and expertise of the ecologist who founded the research station among the Kayapo, as well as assisting ecologists, anthropologists, translators, and Kayapo.

Aggie Danielewicz, Ph.D
Coordinator for Short Term Programs
301.405.7917

Aggie is the Coordinator for Short Term Programs in the Study Abroad Office at the University of Maryland. She coordinates all logistical aspects of the Winter and Summer programs. Aggie is available to discuss the program with any interested applicants.

Shoshana Griffith
Program Assistant

Shoshana is a Program Assistant and Advisor in the Study Abroad Office. She assists in the administration of University of Maryland short-term programs and is available to answer questions from program applicants and participants.

For further information and registration details, please see the Study Abroad web site.