After-Eden: Narratives of Nature, Degradation, and Poverty in Amazonian Discourse
Abstract / Resumen / Resumo
In this article, I consider the environmental narratives of an Amazonian expedition at the turn of the 21st century, called Amazon Quest, a seemingly novel program that connected a team of explorers to elementary students in the United States. Situating the program within a longer discursive history of Amazonian nature, I examine how Amazon Quest’s portrayal of contemporary Amazonia comes to be defined by degradation and poverty. Unlike many popular accounts, Amazon Quest is less a story of unspoiled nature and exotic culture and more a narrative of degraded lands and peoples. I discuss how poverty and degradation are not merely elements in Amazon Quest’s narration, but rather iconic simplifications, ways of knowing the Amazon, its landscapes, its people, and its future.
Recommended Citation
Kneas, David
(2016)
"After-Eden: Narratives of Nature, Degradation, and Poverty in Amazonian Discourse,"
Journal of Latin American Geography
15(2).
Available at:
http://muse.jhu.edu/article/627432
