Seeing like an Amazonian Deforester

Amazonian research on human-environment interactions falls into two broad categories.  A legacy of anthropological research examines the ways that indigenous groups use, categorize, and conceptualize their environment.  On the other hand, environmental change research focuses on the destructive land use practices of migrant and non-indigenous groups. This presentation combines features of both approaches to examine land use classification systems and the cultural values associated with forest and “non-forest" or "deforested" land in Amazonia.   It draws on ethnographic and cognitive data collected among a range of land managers, stakeholders, and decision makers in the Amazon states of Acre and Para, Brazil.