Amazon: Rising Violence and Disturbing Trends
31 Jan / 02 Feb 2020
University of Oxford • Rhodes House
Registration info@agrocultures.org
Midia Relations
This International Colloquium will bring important leaders from indigenous and civil society movements together with academics working on the Amazon. The goal is to debate socio-environmental politics and interrogate legacies from the past, as well as the rising rates of violence, public policies, and the disturbing extractivist pressures facing the region. The Colloquium will include presentations, talks, round tables, artistic expressions, and cultural activities aimed to elicit critical reflection and formulate creative recommendations for national political leaders, representative associations, multilateral organizations, and our global society. The event is part of a wider effort to decolonize scientific practices through a North-South dialogue that recognises the importance of an ethics based on socio-environmental reciprocity. This means conducting research with and for the benefit of indigenous and local communities, allowing them to express their own voices and strengthening their involvement in the transformation of the contemporary Amazon.
The colloquium was designed to stimulate the debate and exchange of ideas between three groups of speakers: first, those who live in the Amazon Region and represent its indigenous population, peasant family farmers, riparian groups (ribeirinhos) and other rural and urban inhabitants impacted by mainstream development and environmental degradation. Second, academics from various universities in Europe, North and South America, who have conducted critical studies on the legacies of colonization and socio-political asymmetries resulting from the ideology of modernity and modernization. Third, policy-makers, diplomats and politicians responsible for the formulation and implementation of public policies and governmental decisions.
Keynote Speakers:
Congresswoman Joênia Wapichana

Cacique Raoni Metuktire
Marina Silva – Former Senator / Minister of the Environment of Brazil

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami
Speakers:
Megaron Txucarramãe
Bepró Metuktire
Susanna Hecht – University of California, Los Angeles
Mark Harris – University of St Andrews
Stefano Varese – University of California, Davis
Cynthia Simmons – University of Florida
Deborah Delgado Pugley – Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Charles Trocate – MST & Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining
Jorge Bodanzky
Leopoldo M. Bernucci
Organizers:

Laura Rival – University of Oxford

Antonio Ioris – Cardiff University

Marcos Colón – Florida State University
Contact information
31 Jan / 02 Feb 2020
University of Oxford • Rhodes House
Registration info@agrocultures.org
Programme of the 5th Agrocultures Colloquium:
“AMAZON’S RISING VIOLENCE AND DISTURBING TRENDS”
Thursday 30 Jan – Ultimate Picture Palace (Jeune Street, Oxford OX4 1BN) | |
18:30 Beyond Fordlândia (Documentary Feature, Brazil, 2018, Marcos Colón)http://www.uppcinema.com/film/beyond-fordlandia With the film director and introduced by Laura Rival (ODID), followed by a Q&A session |
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Friday 31 Jan – Rhodes House (South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RG) – limited seats | |
8:30 | Arrival – registration |
9:00 | Welcome by Agrocultures, Amazônia Latitude and Oxford University/ODID Homage to Darrell A. Posey (led by Laura Rival) |
9:30 Roundtable 1 |
Voices of Indigenous Wisdom Raoni Metuktire “Land, Life and Politics” Joênia Wapixana MP: “Amazonian Politics – Inside and Out of the Brazilian Congress” Moderator: Antonio Ioris |
11:00 Roundtable 2 |
Development for Whom? Charles Trocante: “Conflict between Modern Forest and Perpetual Capital” Megaron Txucurramãea: “The Indigenous Struggle – Local and Global Consequences” Deborah Delgado Pugley: “Oil Frontiers in the Peruvian Amazon” Moderator: Vitale Joanoni Neto |
12:30 Lunch / Networking | |
14:00 Roundtable 3 |
Learning and Avoiding Past Mistakes Mark Harris: “Making of Amazon Societies/Cultures: Historical and Contemporary Reflections” Cynthia Simmons: “Dynamic Amazonia – Lessons for a Changing World” Moderator: Leopoldo Bernucci |
15:00 | Survival International Report (Fiona Watson and Sarah Shenke): “Current threats to Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon and Around the World” |
15:30 Roundtable 4 |
Alternatives, Action and Change Stefano Varese: “The Indigenous Politics of Belonging – Opposing Neo-liberal Extractivism” Marina Silva: “A Message to Old and New Generations of Amazonian People” Davi Kopenawa: “Falling Sky and Rising Consciousness” Moderator: Susanna Hecht |
17:00 | Concluding Debate and Recommendations Signature of the ‘Oxford Letter for the Amazon’ |
17:45 | Talk by John Hemming, about his new book “Peoples of the Rainforest – The Villas Boas Brothers, Explorers and Humanitarians of the Amazon” Venue: Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests |
Saturday 1 Feb – Oxford Department of International Development (ODID – 3 Mansfield Rd.) | |
8:45 | Introductions / balance of the previous day |
9:00 Roundtable |
Trends, Voices and Alterities Paul Little: “Cycles of Ethnogenesis in Amazonia – Struggles for Social Recognition and Territorial Rights” Jeffrey Hoelle: “Seeing like a Deforester – Agro-cultural Logics in Amazonian Frontiers” Cristiano Desconsi: “The Production of Development Expectations and the Pace of Agricultural Expansion” Clarissa Fernandes: “History of Occupation of the Agricultural Frontiers in Brazil” Vitale Joanoni Neto: “The Recurrence of Degrading Labour Relations on the Amazonian Border in the Late Twentieth Century” Kelly Camargo: “Soybeans and Urbanization in Brazilian Midwest – A Case Study of the Municipality of Lucas do Rio Verde” Kanwaljit Singh: “Extractivism in Ecuador’s Amazon” Rachel Carmenta: “Place-based Risks of Flammable Landscapes for Smallholders across the Forested Tropics through an Environmental Justice Lens”Moderator: Cynthia Simmons |
11:30 Talk |
Leopoldo Bernucci: “Learning from Amazonian History and Literature” |
Lunch & Artistic/ engagement experiences |
Mary Menton: “Not1More” Sue and Patrick Cunningham: “Spirit of the Amazon” Food of War Collective (Valero et al.): “Artistic Impressions from the Amazon Rainforest” |
13:00 Special Roundtable |
A Conversation with Different Generations of Amazonian Leaders Raoni – Davi – Joênia – Megaron – Charles – Bepró Metuktire – Dário VitórioModerator: Stefano Varese |
15:00 Movie Session |
Special Movie Session with the director Jorge Bodanzky Pre-launch of his last movie: “Amazônia, A Nova Minamata?” (with English subtitles) Moderator: Marcos Colon |
17:00 | Conclusion of the day |
18:00 | Maasai-Amazonian People Ceremony |
Sunday 2 Feb – Oxford Department of International Development (ODID – 3 Mansfield Rd.) | |
8:45 | Introductions / balance of the previous day |
9:00 Roundtable 1 |
Concepts and Strategies to Rethink the Amazon Carlos E. Sautchuk & Eduardo Di Deus: “From Amazonia to the Cerrado (and the World) – The Circulation of People and Knowledge in the Migration of Pirarucu Fish and Rubber Trees” Julie Dayot: “They Want to Change us by Charging Us – Basic Services, Wage Labour and the Inevitability of Change among a Quichua Community of the Lower Napo River” Maria Fernanda Gebara: “Perceiving the Amazon in the Anthropocene – Reciprocities and Conflicts between Material and Symbolic Worlds” Miguel Hilario: “Socio-ecology and agricultural questions in the Amazon” Antonio Ioris: “Agrocultures – Antipodes of Agribusiness and Development”Moderator: Grace Iara Souza |
10:30 Roundtable 2 |
Reactions and Perspectives Fabio de Castro: “Transformative Farming System in Old Amazonian Frontier” Ricardo Serra Borsatto: “Is the State a Good Partner in Advocating Food Sovereignty and Agroecology? An Overview About Brazilian Policies” Claire Lagier: “La Via Campesina’s Agroecological Militancy at a Crossroads – Exploring New Research Avenues for Amazonian Studies” Marilene Cardoso Ribeiro: “Dead Water – Development, Losses and Sensibilities”Moderator: Paul Little |
11:30 Final talk |
Susanna Hecht: “Critical Geography and the Lasting Problems of the Amazon” |
13:00 | Conclusion of the colloquium – Final celebration |
Oxford City Guide
http://www.oxfordcityguide.com/oxford-tourist-information
University Rooms – Accommodation in the university
https://www.universityrooms.com
Transport from London airport (by coach)
https://airline.oxfordbus.co.uk/heathrow/