Summer field course in Tropical Forest Conservation and Indigenous Peoples: the Kayapo of the Brazilian Amazon

SUMMER COURSE TO KAYAPO TERRITORIES IN BRAZILIAN AMAZON

July 20-Aug. 10, 2013

University of Maryland ANTH 238B, ANTH 269B, ANTH 498C, ANTH 698C, LASC 448 (6 credits)

Cost:  $4200

We announce our 2013 season to the Kayapo territories. In this email we provide information about our course and invite questions. We also attach supplementary materials, including a poster. 

Logistics.  The course takes place over three weeks, with two of them in the Kayapo territories.  It is nearly impossible to gain access to indigenous villages in Brazil and we therefore go through an arduous process of obtaining authorizations for each person.  To accomplish this we must ask each of you to obtain a tourist visa and a medical report.  These will be described in more detail as we approach the departure. 

Conservation and Indigenous Peoples.  The Kayapo have worked in partnership with Conservation International since 1992 in protecting their lands -- nearly pristine tropical rain forest that comprises an area about 12 times the size of Yellowstone.  The area contains high endemism and numerous threatened species, including the blue macaw and the river otter.  Besides the anthropologists, our course is led by two tropical forest ecologists: 1) Barbara Zimmerman, who worked with CI for a number of years and founded the Kayapo program; Barbara now works with the International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC); and 2) Adriano Jerozolimski (Pingo), a zoologist and tropical forest ecologist who specializes in land tortoises and who is the liason to the Kayapo indigenous association, AFP.  Half of the course takes place in an ecological research station, founded by CI, where the forest ecologists and three  Kayapo instructors work with the students on topics such as floral-faunal interactions.  The impacts of hunting on biodiversity are followed by Pingo and the well-known forest ecologist Carlos Peres, and so this will be carefully reviewed and discussed.  In this portion of the course students sleep in tents or in a dormitory-like room in a seminar house.  Meals are provided.

Village Life.  The course also takes place in the indigenous village under the leadership of anthropologist Laura Zanotti, who has spent more than a total of 20 months among the Kayapo and is the author of several publications.  She is typically joined by a companion instructor from a Brazilian university.  This portion of the course addresses such subject matter as mixed economies, agricultural practices, space and identity, body art and body decoration, place-making practices, ceremonial and recreational activities, foraging, hunting and fishing.   Most students spend half of the visit in the village and half in the research station, but some exceptions to this may be accommodated.  In the village, students live in a group house and visit Kayapo homes, gardens, and Men's House. 

Coordination.  The course is coordinated by the University of Maryland and administered by Janet Chernela, an anthropologist with specialization in the Brazilian Amazon.   An orientation to the 6-credit course begins in Maryland and will take place at a time to be announced.  Overview of the course continues in Brazil in the famed rubber-boom city of Belem, before students and instructors embark for the rainforest.  

All Instructors have PhDs and conduct their own research.   To give you a better idea, I am including some of the publications by our team.  

The trip is an extraordinary experience.  I am happy to provide names of students to you if you wish.  

Thank you for your interest.  We all look forward to meeting,

Janet Chernela

Youtube Interview with Barbara Zimmerman:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2151898190249350570

CI Youtube re. Kayapo and conservation  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrAkd8Ee5so

Kayapo Ornamentation, Kinship, and Mythology:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NRQGw2aYJA&feature=related