Table Of ContentAmazonia in the Anthropocene
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People,
Amazonia in the Soils,
Anthropocene Plants,
Forests
Nicholas C. Kawa
University of Texas Press
Austin
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Copyright © 2016 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2016
All photographs courtesy of the author
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The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kawa, Nicholas C., 1981– author.
Amazonia in the Anthropocene : people, soils, plants, forests /
Nicholas C. Kawa. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4773-0799-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4773-
0844-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4773-0800-4 (library
e-book) — ISBN 978-1-4773-0801-1 (nonlibrary e-book)
1. Human ecology—Amazon River Region. 2. Climatic
changes—Amazon River Region. 3. H uman beings—Effect of
environment on—Amazon River Region. 4. H uman geography—
Amazon River Region. 5. A mazon River Region—Environmental
conditions. I. Title.
GF532.A4K39 2016
304.20981′1—dc23 2015021607
doi: 10.7560/307991
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1 1
Amazonia in the Anthropocene
Chapter 2 22
People
Chapter 3 50
Soils
Chapter 4 72
Plants
Chapter 5 93
Forests
Chapter 6 113
From the Anthropocene to the Ecozoic?
Appendix 133
Useful Botanical Species Surveyed
in Borba, Amazonas, Brazil
Notes 145
References 159
Index 181
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Preface
Amazonia is often seen as a land dominated by nature. A land ruled
by biology. A land that erupts in an overwhelming array of fl ora and
fauna, the diversity of which borders on the incomprehensible. A land,
to paraphrase Werner Herzog, of overwhelming fornication and the
fi ght for survival (Blank 1982).
Early anthropological research largely upheld this view, depicting
the region as a hostile environment to which Amerindians had pas-
sively adapted, leaving little more than their footprints in the forest be-
fore the arrival of Europeans. More recent studies have challenged this
vision, arguing that pre-Columbian indigenous1 populations trans-
formed large swaths of Amazonia, as evidenced in newly discovered
geoglyphs, raised agricultural fi elds, anthropogenic forests, and en-
riched soils. Prior to European arrival, the region is estimated to have
supported as many as nine million people (Denevan 1992a), includ-
ing large, complex polities on the banks of the Amazon and its major
tributaries that even featured extensive road networks (Heckenberger
et al. 2003; Nimuendaju 1953). Rather than simply adapting, it seems
that indigenous peoples shaped the Amazonian landscape in myriad
ways for hundreds and even thousands of years.
After European contact, however, the indigenous population suf-
fered a massive demographic collapse, and the Amazonian forest
quickly reclaimed indigenous settlements and their surrounding ag-
ricultural landscapes. Shortly thereafter, Europeans began to colo-
nize the region, launching expeditions to collect cacao, sarsaparilla,
and clove, among other resources. In the process, Amazonia was inte-
grated into the broader global economic system. By the late nineteenth
century, it emerged as the primary center of latex extraction in the
world, providing natural rubber for the burgeoning tire and automo-
bile industries in Europe and North America. And today, a wide vari-
ety of commodities—from cacao nibs to Microsoft smartphones—are
produced by Amazonians for consumers all over the planet.
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viii Preface
When I fi rst arrived in the Brazilian Amazon in 2003, I knew very
little of its history. I had ventured to the city of Manaus to teach En-
glish, and although this wasn’t necessarily my ideal vocation, it al-
lowed me to maintain legal residence in Brazil for a year while I
worked and learned Portuguese. I also had hoped that it might lead me
to other opportunities more closely aligned with my background in an-
thropology. To paraphrase Carl Sandburg: I was an idealist; I didn’t
know where I was going, but I felt like I was on the right track.2
Luckily, that year I was offered an internship at the National Insti-
tute of Amazonian Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Ama-
zônia [hereafter INPA]), where I began to study the “anthropogenic”
soils of the region, known in Portuguese as terra preta do índio, or
“Indian black earth.” These fertile soils, the product of long-term in-
digenous occupation and land use, were one example among many of
how Amazonian peoples had distinctively altered their surrounding
environment. And this led me to wonder: if even Amazonia had been
fundamentally shaped by human populations, was there any place on
earth that had been left untouched by humanity?
Today, the human infl uence on the planet has become so pro-
nounced that many researchers and scholars assert that we have en-
tered a distinct epoch in geological time: the Anthropocene, a new age
dominated by humanity. Observed changes in global biodiversity, cli-
matic patterns, and even geological processes have led many to support
this claim in the hope that it may draw greater attention to the human
impact on the planet. However, the “Anthropocene” also introduces
a number of paradoxes and contradictions. As humans are implicated
in global biological, climatic, and geological processes, maintaining
the distinctions between natural and cultural phenomena has grown
increasingly problematic. And while humans are seen as independent
drivers of global environmental change, hurricanes in New Orleans
and New York as well as tsunamis in Java and Japan clearly demon-
strate that humanity is not in control of the planet’s forces, much less
the only force on the planet.
This book draws from seventeen months of ethnographic fi eldwork3
in Brazilian Amazonia and situates it within this broader context of
the Anthropocene. It examines the ways in which pre- Columbian
Ameri ndians and contemporary rural Amazonians have shaped their
environment, specifi cally in regard to their use and management of the
region’s soils, plants, and forests. However, it also highlights the ways
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Preface ix
in which the Amazonian environment resists human manipulation and
control—a vital reminder in this time of perceived human dominance.
Through this examination, I actively question the conceptual foun-
dations of the Anthropocene. Although this new geological epoch is
associated with the rise of modern industrialized societies in Europe, I
am able to illustrate that it has a much deeper foundation in the emer-
gence of large-scale agricultural societies, including those in Amazo-
nia. In my critique of the latent Eurocentrism of the Anthropocene, I
also show that many Amazonian communities trace their roots to the
late nineteenth-century “rubber boom,” a period in which Amazoni-
ans directly fueled modern industrialization through the production of
high-quality natural rubber. And while one of the underlying justifi ca-
tions for the formal recognition of the Anthropocene is to call atten-
tion to humanity’s pervasive impacts on the planet, I contend that this
label also perpetuates a deeply anthropocentric view of the world, one
which is arguably at the root of the current ecological crisis. By exam-
ining the impacts of climate change on Amazonia today, I argue that
any discussion of the Anthropocene requires not only a deeper aware-
ness of the human infl uence on the planet but also greater attention
toward planetary responses to human action. In other words, rather
than reinforce an anthropocentric view of the world, the recognition
of this new geologic epoch should stimulate deeper eco-centric think-
ing and greater attunement to the lives of others on the planet.
Admittedly, humans are prominent actors throughout this text and
as an anthropologist my primary concern has been with human ways
of relating to the world and making sense of it. Still, I want to ac-
knowledge the actions of other Amazonian beings and capture some
of their worlds. The stories of soils, plants, and forests presented here
are really human stories of these things, but they illustrate ways in
which the environment acts independently of humans and can even
foil the best of human intentions. At the risk of falling into the trap
of overemphasizing the place of “nature” in Amazonian societies—
a tendency that has long plagued anthropological thinking about the
region—I fully acknowledge the shared roles played by humans and
“other- than-h umans” in everyday life. In that sense, this book ap-
proaches the study of Amazonia from an interdisciplinary stance, one
that mixes the sciences with the humanities. It is written largely in the
format of a personal narrative, but is not designed to privilege inter-
pretive ways of thinking over scientifi c ones. Instead, I endeavor to in-
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