Online Symposium Fall 2020: Global-Cultural Environmental Justice—Transdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives
Organized by Imagining Climate Change and the Sustainable Online Network for Global Cultural Studies (SONGS).
October 20, 6:30-8:30 pm: Andréa Zhouri, “The Rise of Anti-Environmentalism In Brazil: From Deregulation to Institutional Dismantling.”
Click on this Link to see the recording of this webinar:
After four decades of initiatives aimed at consolidating environmental governance based on the paradigm of ecological modernization, a process that implied alliances between corporations, the State, and hegemonic NGOs, Brazil now faces the rise of openly anti-environmental and anti-indigenous policies. This trend poses new challenges for the fight for environmental justice in the country. Political sectors such as ruralists, miners, and evangelicals that formerly occupied specific niches in Parliament, have now moved with the military into central positions in the government. I will analyze how the process of environmental deregulation, active since the early 2000s in ecological modernization policies, has paved the way for the current wave of environmental dismantling and its concrete effects on deforestation, as well as increasing violence in the territories occupied by indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
Andréa Zhouri is Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Her research includes Sustainable Development, Environmental Impact Assessment; Environmental Governance, Politics, and Ethics; Indigenous People, Traditional Communities, and the Environment. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrea_Zhouri
Response by Simone Athayde, Associate Professor in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies and Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University.
Simone Athayde’s research examines the impacts of large infrastructure projects and climate change on Indigenous peoples and local communities across the Amazon, as well as their responses and agency over these processes. At LACC/GSS/FIU, she plans to work with several FIU faculty, staff, and students, as well as with diverse Brazilian social actors, to develop a joint vision and a strong research component for the new Brazilian Studies Institute.
LINK TO ALL RELATED SYMPOSIUM EVENTS
LINK TO G-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE POETRY SLAM
Discussion
Do you have any comments about this topic? Fill out the form below to join the discussion.
Comments
This was a fantastic presentation and I want to thank both of you for sharing your expertise and opinions on this topic! The most intriguing part for me was the perception of international environmental group and the distrust they face. Do the indigenous groups hold the same opinions of foreign environmental groups? Do you believe that the growing distrust in scientist and science in general plays a role in this issue?
December 13, 2020
Hi. Thanks for the comments.
November 3, 2020
I wish I could've seen such a wonderful presentation live, but I'm grateful to have been able to catch the recording. The most interesting part of the seminar to me was point of military groups like CERBES and their little regard for the indigenous peoples' land. I'm sure to do more research on these groups in my free time.
November 2, 2020
I found this webinar very intriguing, especially about how the military would compare environmentalists to heads of the communist party, and even while that was 30 years ago, today we see similar dilemmas as the Brazilian President Bolsonaro continues to spread misinformation. Are there currently protests/environmentalists movements against the current administration? Do they stand a chance in Brazil's next election?
November 1, 2020