UC San Diego

Today Amazonia faces two major threats: The first is ecocide in the form of deforestation, which contributes to global climate change and is adding to the list of organisms that are casualties of “the sixth great (and human caused) extinction” of flora and fauna in Earth’s history. Meanwhile the twin menace of ethnocide endangers the continuation of indigenous human cultures in the area as state-sanctioned so-called development encroaches on native territories and lifeways. In order to begin a broader conversation within the history of ideas that seeks to examine these questions: what and where is Amazonia, and how has Amazonia changed over time? This is explored through a process of monumentalism by cultural selection, or more directly, the privileging of certain ideas and memories rather than other competing (and indigenous) memories, conceptions, or visions. It is the central argument that the power to appropriate and refashion (the power to remember) these memories are central to the process of historical, ecological, and cultural change in Amazonia from thousands of years ago until 2017. Finally, it is hoped that by better understanding this process, that Amazonia and its people’s rights may be better understood, respected, and continue to flourish.