Politics of the Forest

The rainforest is often imagined as pristine nature, sparsely inhabited by isolated human populations. This notion, inherited from a colonial, anthropocentric viewpoint, is a long way from the reality. The rainforest is a complex political community, an intermeshing of (human and nonhuman) species in constant negotiation. For centuries, Indigenous cosmologies have safeguarded this delicate balance, which is now damaged by an extractivist momentum which is contemptuous of avant la lettre norms that make life possible. In these times of climate emergency, the rainforest appears as a key space of struggle and resistance. The wisdom of its dwellers presents a vision of other possible worlds that shun the gulf and hierarchy between humanity and what is called “nature”. This cycle of conversations is an invitation to explore the richness of rainforest cultures and ecosystems, guided by people who inhabit them and who observe them from nearby vantage points.

Participating in these conversations are Davi Kopenawa, leader of the Yanomami people, the anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, the philosopher Déborah Danowski, the architect and curator Paulo Tavares, the lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, and the jurist and activist Teresa Vicente.