A future for Amazonia : Randy Borman and Cofan environmental politics / by Michael Cepek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cepek, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cofán Indians--Politics and government.

Cofán Indians.

Amazon River Region--Environmental conditions.

Amazon River Region.

Borman, Randall.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"This book tells how an indigenous Amazonian group formed coalitions with western environmentalists, Randy Borman in particular, to protect their cultural identity and traditional territory"-- Provided by publisher.

"Blending ethnography with a fascinating personal story, A Future for Amazonia is an account of a political movement that arose in the early 1990's in response to decades of attacks on the lands and peoples of eastern Ecuador, one of the world's most culturally and biologically diverse places. After generations of ruin at the hands of colonizing farmers, transnational oil companies, and Colombian armed factions, the indigenous Cofan people and their rainforest territory faced imminent jeopardy. In a surprising turn of events, the Cofan chose Randy Borman, a man of Euro-American descent, to lead their efforts to overcome the crisis that confronted them. Drawing on three years of ethnographic research, A Future for Amazonia begins by tracing the contours of Cofan society and Borman's place within it. Borman, a blue-eyed, white-skinned child of North American missionary-linguists, was raised in a Cofan community and gradually came to share the identity of his adoptive nation. He became a global media phenomenon and forged creative partnerships between Cofan communities, conservationist organizations, Western scientists, and the Ecuadorian state. The result was a collective mobilization that transformed the Cofan nation in unprecedented ways, providing them with political power, scientific expertise, and a new role as ambitious caretakers of more than one million acres of forest. Challenging simplistic notions of identity, indigeneity, and inevitable ecological destruction, A Future for Amazonia charts an inspiring course for environmental politics in the twenty-first century."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Cofan Possibilities

Part I: An Individual and a People

1. Agency: The Emergence of an Intercultural Leader

2. Identity: Collectivity and Difference

3. Value: The Dilemma of Being Cofan

Part II: An Experiment in Indigenous and Environmental Politics

4. The NGO: Institutionalizing Activism

5. The Forest: Collaborating with Science and Conservation

6. The School in the City: Producing the Cofan of the Future

Conclusion: A Possible Forest

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-292-73951-6

OCLC:

813844062