The Amazon in Times of War
The Amazon in Times of War is a collection of essays by Marcos Colón featuring first-hand accounts that detail physical assaults, economic and institutional harm against the ‘lungs of the earth’, the Amazon region.
The essays traverse diverse themes while adhering to a chronological sequence, zeroing in on a pivotal period commencing in 2018 when Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency of an already fragmented nation. His calculated political agenda aimed at the obliteration of the world’s largest biome and its peoples, which encompasses nine South American nations. Bolsonaro was consequently dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics.”
Marcos Colón denounces this destruction and calls for the protection of the rainforest and its inhabitants.
Bio
Marcos Colón is an academic, journalist, and filmmaker. His articles have been featured in the Jornal Público, Folha de São Paulo, Harvard Review of Latin America, and El País. He is founder of online journalism platform Amazônia Latitude and director of documentary films 'Beyond Fordlandia' and 'Stepping Softly on the Earth'. Colón is the Southwest Borderlands Initiative Professor of Media and Indigenous Communities at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His research focuses on Brazilian literary and cultural studies, with a particular emphasis on the Amazon, Indigenous studies, and representations of natureculture in documentary film and world cinema.
Praise for this book
The Amazon has finally become political news. This outstanding collection shows why. Its defenders are being murdered, its peoples are devastated by disease and hunger, and its beautiful environment continues to be destroyed and polluted. Covering the last 5 or so years of this history, Marcos Colón considers the record of the Bolsonaro government and its devastating impact on the Amazon and its peoples. Yet Bolsonaro’s war has failed to quash the collectivist spirit of the Amazonian people. With stunning photographs and the sensitive ear of a careful listener, Colón brings alive their voices.
Mark Harris Professor and Head of School, Humanities, University of Adelaide and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow, University of St Andrews. Author of Rebellion on the Amazon: The Cabanagem, Race, and Popular Culture in the North of Brazil, 1798–1840
These essays are fresh and heartfelt and together are a powerful call for humanity to heed the voices of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, to learn from them, and to act now.
Fiona Watson Campaigns Director, Survival International, UK
