The talk starts by contrasting the extractivist view of the Amazon, according to which the region is a collection of monetizable resources, and the approach to the territory as a living forest, espoused by Indigenous and other traditional Amazonian communities. It subsequently focuses on the Indigenous understanding of life in Amazonia as a process of permanent metamorphosis that translates the ontological instability of all entities in the rainforest. The talk ends with an analysis of the poetry of Iquitos writer Ana Varela Tafur (1963-) and the work of Shipibo-Konibo artist Chonon Bensho (1992-), both from the Peruvian Amazon. The talk shows that both Varela’s writings and Bensho’s art offer examples of phyto- and zoometamorphoses that mirror the Amazonian living ontology of becoming.
Speaker: Patrícia Vieira
January 29, 3- 4pm
Florida State University, Tallahassee Campus, Diffenbaugh 009