Nuevas Historias Ambientales de América Latina: Diálogos Transversales

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Research into the environmental histories of Latin America and the Caribbean has increased dramatically over the past decade or so. This panel features the work of four contributors to a forthcoming volume on Latin America's environmental history (19th-21st centuries). John Soluri's paper provides an overview of the project's objectives and its engagements with themes central to both Latin Americanists and environmental historians working on other world regions. José Augusto Pádua's paper examines the role of space and territory in the construction of Brazil. Claudia Leal's paper considers the changing meanings of tropical forests in Latin America from "green hells" to "eco-paradise." Shawn Van Ausdal and Robert Wilcox's paper provides a revised framework for understanding the internal dynamics of cattle ranching and its contributions to environmental change in Latin America.

Collectively, the panel synthesizes ongoing conversations about the theory, methods, and politics of researching and writing environmental histories of "Latin America," and the field's potential to contribute to new knowledges.

Sub Track

• Environment

Chair

• Stefania Gallini, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Individual Presentations

• Selvas: ¿infiernos verdes o paraisos en peligro? - Claudia M Leal, Universidad de los Andes/Bogotá

• Ranching and the transformation of Latin American landscapes - Shawn Van Ausdal, Universidad de los Andes

Discussant

• Regina H Duarte, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais