Special Topics in Cultural Anthropology*:
Conservation and Indigenous People in Latin America
Professor Janet Chernela
ANTH468L/LASC458L (3 credits)
Mondays 2:00-4:45, Woods 1114
Office Hours Wed. 2-3 or by appointment chernela@gmail.com
Taking specific cases and examining them through the lens of political and social
ecology, this class considers the role of indigenous peoples in local and worldwide conservation
efforts. The course considers both traditional indigenous knowledge and land management as
well as new contributions by indigenous peoples to changing landscapes. It reviews the legal
mechanisms and instruments through which indigenous peoples have rights to the resources they
occupy and utilize, and the struggles to retain those rights.
Whereas former conservation paradigms favored areas of absolute environmental
protections known as "parks," new paradigms emphasize the role of local peoples in protecting
the lands in which they live and from which they obtain their livelihoods. As such,
intergovernmental agencies and non-governmental organizations have instituted new
mechanisms known as Partnerships in which local peoples and international agencies collaborate
to both preserve nature and enhance livelihoods. This course will consider project arrangements
in which indigenous peoples and NGOs form alliances to generate local income, protect nature,
and respect human rights. Case studies will emphasize the indigenous peoples and conservation
policies of Latin America.
Readings. Students are expected to find the assigned readings through the University of
Maryland Research Portal and the worldwide web. Where these are not available, the reading
assignments will be posted electronically on ELMS.
Assignments. Occasional requests will be made to conduct a literature search on a
specific topic. For that purpose it is recommended that you employ the Google Scholar function.
Assignments are to be submitted as .doc files labeled with lastname followed by assignment date.
We will discuss the assignments in class. They are due 24 hrs. prior to the date shown on the
syllabus, which is the class in which they will be discussed.
Requirements and Grading: Grades will be determined on the following basis: class
participation (10%), a mid-term examination (45%), and a research project (45%).
Participation is evaluated on the basis of active involvement in classroom discussions,
attendance, and participation in external activities. Portions of this course will be related to
events held at AmazonWatch and other NGOs in the vicinity.
Examination. The mid-term examination will consist of both short-answer and essay
questions.
Research Project. Each student will prepare a research project based on a topic of
his/her choice that is relevant to the course. The research project, which may be in the form of
powerpoint presentation or paper, is to be selected and approved in conjunction with instructor,
by Oct. 19. You are expected to conduct research and to distinguish your own findings from
those in the literature through citations and bibliography. Powerpoints will be presented to the
class as ungraded works in progress for feedback. Completed projects are to be submitted at the
end of the semester in .doc or .ppt form.
1
*Dated 8.30.2015; may be subject to revision.
Weekly Topics and Reading Assignments
Aug. 31 Introduction: Concepts, course requirements, and grading.
The following case studies will serve as examples throughout the course:

Awa, Ecuador [organizational strategies for sustainability]

Chiripá, Paraguay [horticulture and sustainability]

Cofan, Ecuador [petroleum]

Kayapo, Brazil [NGOs, partnering, megaprojects, strategies, REDD]

Kuna, Panama [land, autonomy, conservation, and ecotourism]

Macuxi, Guyana and Brazil [environmental zoning]

Sarayaku Kichwa, Ecuador [international law]

Surui, Brazil [BR364, REDD]

Tukano, Colombia and Brazil [TEK, NGOs]

Yanomami, Venezuela and Brazil [reliance on forest, mining, NGOs, law]

Xavante, Brazil [infrastructure, community mobilization]

*Assignment: Who are a) John Hemming? b) Alfred Russel Wallace?, c) Henry Bates? d)
Richard Spruce?
Sept. 5 John Hemming, National Book Festival, author of Red Gold, Tree of Rivers:
The Story of the Amazon, , 6:00-7:00 Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10
First St. SE., Washington DC 20540, with opportunities to meet John Hemming.
Sept. 7 Labor Day
Sept. 14 Traditional Knowledge and Livelihoods; Human-Animal-Plant
Interactions among the Yanomami, Kayapo and Tukano [Guest speaker Javier
Carrera Rubio]
Reading:
Posey 2002: 193-199
Clay 1998: 1-41
Mena 2000: 57-78
*Assignment: What do sustainability and population density have to do with one
another?
Sept. 15 Tom Lovejoy, "A Half Century of Conservation: How did it Happen? -Celebrating Tom Lovejoy's Work in the Amazon Basin." 4:30-6:00, Russell Train
2
Conference Center, World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th St. NW, Washington 20037. To
register: worldwildlife.org/fuller.
Sept. 21 Managing Sustainability, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Practice
Read:
Posey 2002: 200-216
Reed 1990: 34-40
Chernela 2003: 1-14
Howe 2001: 137-151
Arauz 2004: www1.american.edu/ted/kuna.htm
*Assignment: Find and report on other cases of TEK
Sept. 28 Property Regimes and Traditional Societies: Considering the Commons
Reading:
Malthus 1798 - www.esp.org/books/malthus/population/malthus.pdf pp. 1-11.
Hardin 1968: 1-12
Feeny et al. 1990
Ostrom, Elinor, et al., 1999: 278-282.
*Panel: land ownership among the Yanomami, Kayapo, Tukano
Oct. 5 Protected Area Paradigms in Transition: People and Parks
Read:
Locke and Dearden 2005: 1-10
Weeks and Mehta 2004: 253-263
Chernela 2005 [a- silves]: 620-631
IUCN, 2009 WCPA Categories System for Protected Areas
http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/pa/pa_products/wcpa_categories/
*Assignment: What are the five IUCN protected categories? What is the controversy
around Category VI?
Oct. 12 Discourses and instruments for indigenous rights and the environment:
Sarayaku [Guest speaker: Andrew Miller or Franco Viteri?]
Reading:
Convention ILO 107 - www.ilo.org/images/empent/static/coop/pdf/Conv107.pdf
http: intercontinentalcry.org/the-history-of-ilo-conventions-on-indigenous-peoples/
UNDRIP - www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
3
CBD, Article 8j - www.cbd.int/convention/articles/default.shtml?a=cbd-08
Pueblo Indígena Kichwa de Sarayaku vs. Ecuador - www.escr-net.org/node/364959
OAS and Sarayaku - www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a8824a2f-d4af-496ca5d6-b394dfcde48e
*Assignment: What is the difference between a Declaration, a Treaty, and a Convention?
Oct. 19, Midterm
Oct. 26 Threats and responses to forests and indigenous peoples: (1) Cattle and
agricultural production
Read:
Institute for Science
Howden, 2006:
www.independent.co.uk/environment/eating-the-amazon-the-fight-to-curb-corporatedestruction-408238.html
Film: Owners of the Water: A Story of Conflict and Collaboration. Laura Graham
et al.
*Special Presentation by Dr. Laura Graham, University of Iowa
Nov. 2 Threats and responses to forests and indigenous peoples: (2) Infrastructure
(dams, roads)
Fearnside 2006: 1-24
Posey 2002: 221-233
Rabben 2003:48-89
*Assignment: What is Belo Monte?
Nov. 9 Threats and responses to forests and indigenous peoples: (3) Minerals and
Petroleum
Readings:
Fisher 1994
Yanomami and gold
 www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/26/amazon-gold-rush-prices-soar
 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/yanomami/
 www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami/intruders
 www.survivalinternational.org/news/10819
4

Indigenous Peoples Say No to Oil:
 www.thefreelibrary.com/Indigenous+people+say+no+to+oil+co.-a021132613
 www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/41/104.html
Film: Crude (Joe Berlinger, 2009)
*Assignment: What is the current status of Secoya vs. Occidental?
Nov. 16 Linking Levels: Multilateral Agencies, Environmental NGOs, and
Indigenous Peoples (Participatory Models in the Governance of Protected Areas):
Kayapo (CI), Yanomami (CCPY), Tukano (ISA)
Read:
Chapin, Mac, 2004
Chernela, 2005 [b - CI and Kayapo]
Zimmerman et al., 2001
*Assignment: Is there another letter to Chapin that you find relevant? Which one?
Nov. 23 Payment for Ecosystem Services
Wunder 2007: 48-58
Nov. 30 Payment for Ecological Services -- Carbon Markets
Read:
Walker et al. 2014
Chernela 2011 - www.icarus.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Chernela.pdf
Schwartzman, Stephan (2009a) Lessons from the Xingu Project for National REDD.
www.worldwildlife.org/science/stanfordgroup.html
Schwartzman, Stephan (2009b) Indigenous lands, Amazon conservation and REDD.
www.worldwildlife.org/science/stanfordgroup.html
Soares-Filho, Britalto (2009b) Amazon Protected Areas and Indigenous Lands.
www.worldwildlife.org/science/stanfordgroup.html
Alessandro Baccini and Wayne Walker, various online videos.
Dec. 7 Class Presentations
5
Dec. 14 Class Presentations
READINGS
Arauz, Melissa (2004) Panama: Kuna Tribe and Ecotourism. www.american.edu TED
kuna.htm
Chernela, Janet (2001) The Awa of Ecuador: An Experiment in Community-based
Conservation and Resource Use. In Endangered Peoples, ed. Susan Stonich. Westport:
Greenwood. Pp 173-187
Chernela, Janet (2003) Local Communities and Protected Areas: the Indigenous Awa of
Ecuador. In Innovative Governance: Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and
Protected Areas, eds. Hanna Jaireth and Dermot Smyth. New Delhi: IUCN, Ane Books.
Pp 197-210
Chernela, Janet (2005a) The Politics of Mediation: Local-Global Interactions in the
Central Amazon of Brazil. American Anthropologist 107(4)620-631.
Chernela, Janet (2005b) The Art of Listening: Collaboration between International
Environmental NGOs and Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon Basin of Brazil.
Worldwatch Feb.
Chernela, Janet (2010) Opposition in the time of Avatar: Belo Monte in the Brazilian
Amazon. Anthropology News.
Chernela, Janet (2011) Structures of Participation: Indigenous Peoples in Two Projects
of Reduced Deforestation (REDD) in the Brazilian Amazon. Climate Vulnerability and
Adaptation: Marginal Peoples and Environments. ICARUS: Initiative on Climate
Adaptation Research and Understanding through the Social Sciences.
http://www.icarus.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Chernela.pdf
Chernela, Janet and Laura Zanotti (In Press) A Win-Win Scenario? The Prospects for
Indigenous Peoples in Carbon Sequestration (REDD) Projects in Brazil. In The Carbon
Fix: Global Equity and the New Environmental Regime, eds. Shirley Fiske and
Stephanie Paladino. Walnut Creek CA: Left Coast Press.
Clay, Jason (1998) Indigenous Peoples and Tropical Forests: Models of Land Use and
Management from Latin America. Cultural Survival Report 27. Cambridge: Cultural
Survival.
Fearnside, Philip (2002) Avanca Brasil: Environmental and Social Consequences of
Brazil’s Planed Infrastructure in Amazonia. Environmental Management 30(6)735-737
Fearnside, Phiip (2006) Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazil’s Hydroelectric
Development of the Xingu River Basin. Environmental Management. Prepublication
6
Fearnside, Phiip (2005) Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates, and
Consequences. Conservation Biology 19 (3) 680
Feeny, D., F. Berkes, B.J. McCay and J.M. Acheson 1990. The tragedy of the commons:
Twenty-two years later. Human Ecology 18: 1-19.
Fisher, William H. (1994) Megadevelopment, Environmentalism, and Resistance: the
institutional context of Kayapó indigenous politics in central Brazil. Human
Organization: 53(3): 220-232.
Fisher, W. (1997) Doing Good? The Politics and Anti-politics of NGO Practices. Annual
Review of Anthropology 26:439 464.
Hardin, Garrett (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162(3859)1243-1249.
Howden, Daniel (2006) Moratorium on New Soya Crops wins Reprieve for Rainforest. July 26,
2006 UK: The Independent.
Howden, Daniel (2006) Eating the Amazon: The Fight to Curb Corporate Destruction.. July 17,
2006 UK: The Independent.
Inatoy, Enrique (2001) Interview with Nuria Bolaños. Rainforest Alliance. On line.
Institute for Science ( ) Indigenous People Say No to Oil [The Free Library]
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Indigenous+people+say+no+to+oil+co.-a021132613
San Pablo, Ecuador
IUCN Strategies for National Sustainable Development. On line.
IUCN (1997) Indigenous Peoples and Sustainability: Cases and Actions. IUCN InterCommission Task Force on Indigenous Peoples. IUCN Indigenous Peoples and
Conservation Initiative. International Books.
IUCN (2006) Forests and Protected Areas: Guidance on the Use of the IUCN Protected
Area Management Categories. Best Practices Protected Area guidelines Series No 12.
IUCN: The World Conservation Union.
Kimerling, Judith (1996) Oil, lawlessness, and indigenous struggles in Ecuador's Oriente.
In Collinson, Helen, Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Nottingham, UK: Russell Press. Pp. 61-73.
Kronik, Jacob and Dorte Verner (2010) Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Washington D. C. The International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.
7
Locke, Harvey, and Philip Dearden (2005) Rethinking protected area categories and the
new paradigm. Environmental Conservation 32(1)1-10.
Mathus, Rev. Thomas Robert (1798) An Essay on the Principle of Population as it
affects the Future Improvement on Society, with Remarks on the Speculation of Mr.
Godwin, M. Condorcet and other Writers. Excerpted:
http://www.marathon.uwc.edu/geography/demotrans/malthus_excerpts.htm
McIntosh, Ian (1999) Ecotourism: A Boon for Indigenous People?. Cultural Survival
Quarterly 23(2):3.
McLaren, Deborah Ramer (1999) The History of Indigenous Peoples and Tourism.
Cultural Survival Quarterly 23(2):27-30
McNeely, Jeffrey (1988) Economics and Biological Diversity: Developing and Using
Economic Incentives to Conserve Biological Resources. Gland, Switz.: IUCN.
**McNeely, Jeffrey et al. (1990) Conserving the World's Biological Diversity. IUCN;
WRI; CI; WWF-US; WB.
Mena V., Patricio, Jody Stallings, Jhanira Regalado B., and Rueben Cueva L. (2000)
The Sustainability of Current Hunting Practices by the Hoarani. In Hunting for
Sustainability in Tropical Forests, eds. Robinson, John and Elizabeth . New York:
Columbia University Press.
Mendes, Chico (1993, 2001) Fight for the Forest: Building Bridges. In Place, Susan,
Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, DE:
SR Books. Pp. 154-157.
Milliken, W., B. Albert, and G. Goodwin Gomez (1999) Yanomami – A Forest People.
Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens.
Mittermeier, R., Gustavo da Fonseca, Anthony Rylands, and Katrina Brandon (2005) A
Brief History of Biodiversity Conservation in Brazil. Conservation Biology 19 (3) 601
Ostrom, Elinor, Joanna Burger, Christopher B. Feld, Richard Norgaard, and David
Polikansky (1999) Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges. Science
284: 278-282.
Peres, C.A. (1994) Indigenous reserves and nature conservation in Amazonian Forests.
Conservation Biology 8(2)586-588.
Peters, Charles M. (1990) Population Ecology and Management of Forest Fruit Trees in
Peruvian Amazonia. In Anderson, Anthony, Alternatives to Deforestation. New York:
8
Columbia University Press. Pp. 86-99.
Pimbert, Michael and Jules N. Pretty (1997) Diversity and sustainability in community
based conservation. Paper for the UNESCO-IIPA regional workshop on Communitybased Conservation, February 9-12, 1997, India. IUCN. Web Posting.
Plotkin, Mark (1993) The Healing Forest. In Place, Susan, Tropical Rainforests: Latin
American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, DE: SR Books. Pp. 125-132.
Poncelet, Eric C. (2001) The Discourse of Environmental Partnerships. In Crumley,
Carole, New Directions in Anthropology And Environment. Walnut Creek, CA:
Altamira Press. Pp. 273-292
Posey, Darrell A. (2002) Kayapó Ethnoecology and Culture. London: Routledge.
Posey, Darrell (1993, 2001) Alternatives to Forest Destruction: Lessons from the
Mebengokre Indians. In Place, Susan, Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and
Society in Transition. Wilmington, DE: SR Books. Pp. 132-139.
Redford, Kent H. 1993. The Ecologically Noble Savage. Cultural Survival Quarterly
15:46-48.
Redford, Kent and Allyn Maclean Stearman. 1993. Forest-Dwelling Native Amazonians
and the Conservation of Biodiversity: Interests in Common or in collision?
Conservation Biology 7(2)248-255.
Reed, Richard K. (1990) Developing the Mbaracayu Biosphere Reserve, Paraguay:
Chiripá Indians and Sustainable Economies. Yearbook. Conference of Latin Americanist
Geographers 16:34-40
Robinson, John G. (2007) Recognizing differences and establishing clear-eyed
partnerships: a response to Vermeulen & Sheil. Oryx 4:1-2.
Robinson, John G. (2006) Conservation Biology and Real-world Conservation.
Conservation Biology 20(5) 658-669.
Robinson, John and Elizabeth Bennett (2000) Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical
Forests. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rylands, Anthony and Katrina Brandon (2005) Brazilian Protected Areas. Conservation
Biology 19 (3) 601
Sanderson, Steven with Shawn Bird (1998) The New Politics of Protected Areas. In
Brandon, Katrina, Kent H. Redford, and Steven E. Sanderson, Parks in Peril: People,
Politics, and Protected Areas. The Nature Conservancy. Washington DC: Island Press.
9
Pp. 441-455.
Schwartzman, Stephan (1991) Deforestation and Popular Resistance in Acre: From Local
Social Movement to Global Network. Centennial Review 35, no. 2: 397-422.
Schwartzman, Stephan Indigenous lands, Amazon conservation, and REDD. Online
Posting.
Schwartzman, S., Moreira, A., Nepstad, D. (2000) Rethinking tropical forest
conservation: perils in parks. Conservation Biology 14: 1351-1357.
Schwartzman, Stephan and Barbara Zimmerman (2005) Conservation Alliances with
Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon. Conservation Biology: 19(3) 721-727.
Silva, Marina (2005) The Brazilian Protected Areas Program. Conservation Biology
19(3)608
Terborgh, John (1993) A Glimpse at Some Tropical Habitats. In Place, Susan, Tropical
Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition. Wilmington, DE: SR
Books. Pp. 102-108
Toledo, Victor M. (1999) Indigenous Peoples and Biodiversity. Institute of Ecology
National University of Mexico (UNAM). Accessed at: http: www.iea.ad cbd congres
cima99 toledo.pdf.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt (2001) Nature in the Making. In Crumley, Carole, New
Directions in Anthropology And Environment. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press. Pp.
3-23
Turner, Terence (1995) An indigenous Amazonian people’s struggle for socially
equitable and ecologically sustainable production: the Kayapo revolt against extractivism.
Journal of Latin American Anthropology 1: 98-121.
U.N. General Assembly (2008) The United Nations Declaration on the rights of
Indigenous Peoples. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf
Vermeulen, S. and Sheil, D. 2007. Partnerships for tropical conservation. Oryx 41: 434–
440.
Walker, Wayne, Alessandro Baccini, Stephan Schwartzman, Sandra Ríosc, María A.
Oliveira-Mirandad; , Cicero Augusto, Milton Romero Ruiz, Carla Soria Arrasco, Beto
Ricardo, Richard Smith, Chris Meyer, Juan Carlos Jintiachi & Edwin Vasquez Campos
(2014) Forest carbon in Amazonia: the unrecognized contribution of indigenous
territories and protected natural areas. Carbon Management. Policy Focus. Dec. 20,
2014.
10
Weeks, Pris and Shalina Mehta (2004) Managing People and Landscapes: IUCN’s
Protected Area Categories. Journal of Human Ecology 16(4)253-263.
West, Paige, James Igoe and Dan Brockington (2006) Parks and Peoples: The Social
Impact of Protected Areas. Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol 35:251West, Paige (2005) Translation, Value, and Space: Theorizing an Ethnographic and
Engaged Environmental Anthropology. American Anthropologist 107(4) 632-642.
WorldWatch (2005) Letters from Readers.
WWF International (2000) Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the World and
Ecoregion Conservation. An Integrated Approach to Conserving the World’s Biological
and Cultural Diversity. Gland, Switzerland: Terralingua.
WWF International (2004) Are protected areas working? An analysis of forest protected
areas by WWF for the Seventh Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological
Diversity. Gland, Switzerland.
Zanotti, Laura and Janet Chernela. (2008) Conflicting Cultures of Nature: Ecotourism,
Education, and the Kayapó of the Brazilian Amazon. Journal of Tourism Geographies.
10(4)
2014a (with Laura Zanotti) Limits to Knowledge: Partnering between Indigenous
Peoples and NGOs in the Eastern Amazon. Conservation and Society 12(3)306-317.
Chernela, Janet and Laura Zanotti (
Zimmerman, B., C.A. Peres, J.R. Malcolm, and T. Turner. (2001) Conservation and
development alliances with the Kayapo of south-eastern Amazonia, a tropical forest
indigenous people. Environmental Conservation 28(1)10-22.
11