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HIST/LAST 322

EXPLORATION, CONQUEST AND INSURRECTION: THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZON 1542-PRESENT

Prof. Valeria López Fadul

Fall 2017

Monday and Wednesday, 2:50 to 4:10 p.m. PAC 125

Office: PAC 208 Office Hours: T: 9:00 to 10:30 am and by appointment

vlopezfadul@wesleyan.edu

Dark, wild, primitive, Edenic and infinitely wealthy: the Amazon has been many

things in many times and places. From the disgruntled Spanish conquistadors who first traversed the jungle’s rivers in search of cinnamon, to the nineteenth-century scientific expeditions of enlightened explorers, to contemporary environmentalists, the Amazon remains a mysterious object of inquiry. It still incites the imagination of travelers, filmmakers, and politicians alike.

This seminar investigates the multiple ways in which the Amazon and its peoples have been portrayed in chronicles, scientific writings, and film. We will confront the historical circumstances, motives and ideologies that prompted each of these depictions

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and how, in turn, they shaped the colonization of the region. We will pay close attention to genre, and to themes like cross-cultural encounter, imperialism, and the representation of indigenous societies.

We begin in 1542 with the chronicle of Francisco de Orellana. As the first Spaniard

to navigate the entire length of the Amazon River, Orellana influenced how Europeans imagined the jungle well into the nineteenth century. Subsequently, we apply readings in history of science and anthropological theory to Claude Lévi-Strauss’ account of Amazonian tribes in Tristes Tropiques (1955). Students will then conduct independent research into a representation of their interest. Possible topics include scientific expeditions in the region, the jungle and modernization, global warming, or human rights. Finally, we will reflect on the Amazon as a metaphor for the human condition with Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo (1982). COURSE OBJECTIVES. This seminar aims to fulfill three main objectives:

1. To introduce you to the major events, themes, peoples and transformations in the history of the Amazon from the time of the first European incursions in the sixteenth century until the present day.

2. To familiarize you with the methods, concepts, and theories that writers in a variety of genres have used to understand one of Latin America’s most important regions.

3. To further your ability to analyze different types of primary documents ranging from colonial chronicles to ethnographic reports and photographic memoirs, and the ways in which they can be used to make historical arguments.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS CLASS READINGS/ DISCUSSION. With these goals in mind you will be required to read ca. 100- 110 pages per week and discuss a combination of primary sources and secondary literature. You are expected to attend each class having completed the assigned readings (or having watched the assigned film) and ready to participate in discussion. Attendance constitutes more than just showing up; you are expected to contribute to conversation and should arrive prepared to ask questions and share comments, interpretations, arguments, and doubts. You should inform me of any absences. More than two unexplained absences will automatically result in a lower participation grade. FILMS. Four films are scheduled for the term. Films will be available for streaming on Moodle. The films are an integral part of the course and require the same level of careful attention as the written documents.

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THINK-PIECES. Three short writing assignment or “think-pieces” (c.a. 500 words) will be due throughout the course of the semester. The prompts for these will allow you to focus on specific aspects of the weekly readings. SHORT PAPER I. The first paper, of approximately 1,000 words (4-5 pages) will focus on the interpretation of a single primary source or small group of sources (this may be based on images). SHORT PAPER II. The second paper of approximately 1,000 words (4-5 pages) will ask you to use online newspaper data bases to find articles about the Amazon region that date before the 1970s. Your task will be to select between two to four pieces. You will then discuss how the region is portrayed in the journalistic writings you selected and to what factors (political, economic, intellectual, or cultural) you attribute these specific depictions. Two weeks before the assignment is due a handout with detailed instructions on how to consult online periodical databases and with tips on how to approach these sources will be posted on the course site and distributed in class. FINAL PAPER. The third paper, of approximately 2,000 words (10 pages), will require you to investigate a somewhat larger topic of your choosing that addresses a historical or contemporary aspect of the course materials. The paper will be written first as a draft or partial draft and then revised for final submission. I will not grade your drafts, but I will meet with each of you to discuss them and help you craft them into polished final products. Final papers will be due during finals week. PAPER PRESENTATION: During a ten minute presentation you will have the opportunity to share aspects of your final essay research. A power point slide with an image or presentation title should be emailed to me the night before the class when you are scheduled to present. Presentations will take place in the final two sessions of the course after you have received feedback on your drafts or partial drafts. All assignments must be completed by the deadline specified. Only in exceptional circumstances will extensions be granted. Late work will receive an automatic grade reduction (1/2 a grade for each day late). Final Grades will be determined on the following basis: 15% Short Think-Pieces (3, 5% each) 30% First and Second Papers (15% each) 30% Final Paper 10% Presentation

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15% Attendance and Participation STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Accessibility Services as soon as possible.

If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Accessibility Services, located in North College, rooms 021/022, or call 860-685-5581 to arrange an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.

OFFICE HOURS

Individual assistance is always available during office hours or by appointment. Please come by with any questions about the course or your education as a whole.

CITATION PRACTICES

You will find it useful to familiarize yourself with Wesleyan’s Honor Code and policy on plagiarism if you have not had the chance to do so already. Plagiarism is a serious offense. If you have any questions about citation practices please do not hesitate to get in touch. I will distribute resources on how to best cite and keep track of your notes before the first paper is due.

REQUIRED BOOKS Only two books are required for this class. They have been ordered at the Wesleyan R.J Julia Book Store. Both titles are also on reserve in the library: Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010). [Wesleyan also provides you access to an electronic version of this book.] Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques [1955] trans. by Doreen Weightman (New York: Penguin Books, 1992).

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All other readings will be available for download or print on Moodle. Please print the weekly readings and bring a hard copy to class. While reading on the screen is convenient, you may be less likely to take notes on important or confusing passages or re-read the sections that we are addressing during discussion. If printing presents a problem, please contact me.

COURSE UNITS AND WEEKLY READINGS Week 1 The Amazon in History Monday, September 4 Course Introduction Wednesday, September 6 ★ The Embrace of the Serpent [2015], directed by Ciro Guerra. [Moodle]

• Hecht and Cockburn, Chapter 1: “ The Forest of their Desires,” pp. 1-15; and Chapter 3: “ The Heritage of Fire,” pp. 38-62.

• William Denevan, “The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492” in Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 82, No. 3, (Sep., 1992), pp. 369-381. [JSTOR]

Week 2 Quests for Cinnamon and Golden Kingdoms: Early Chronicles of Exploration and Conquest Monday, September 11

• Garcilaso de la Vega, el Inca, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, trans. by Harold V. Livermore (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966), 869-885; 913-920.

• Gaspar de Carvajal, “The discovery of the Amazon according to the account of Friar Gaspar de Carvajal,” [1542] trans. by Bertram T. Lee (New York: American Geographical Society, 1934), 167-190; 217-222; 233-235.

• “Letter of Gonzalo Pizarro to the King, dated Tomebamba, September 3, 1542,” 245-251.

Wednesday, September 13

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• James Lockhart, “Trunk Lines and Feeder Lines: The Spanish Reaction to American Resources,” in Of Things of the Indies: Essays Old and New in Latin American Historiography, pp. 120-157.

• Walter Ralegh, “The Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana; with a Relation of the great and golden City of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado,” pp. 332-337.

• D. Graham Burnett, “Fabled Land,” in Mapping Latin America, pp. 38-41. 4 First Think-Piece due in class (ca. 500 words). What are strategies that the Spanish explorers and “conquistadores” adopt in their expedition down the Amazon river?

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How do the Spanish perceive the natural landscape and the humans that inhabit it? Week 3 Natural Histories and their European Readers Monday, September 18

• Jean de Léry, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil [1578] pp.3-6; 112-177.

* Spend some time looking over the images that Léry created to accompany his account:https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/search?search=SUBMIT&q=jean+de+lery&dateRangeStart=&dateRangeEnd=&QuickSearchA=QuickSearchA

* First paper instructions and in-class discussion of how to write a history paper. Wednesday, September 20

• André Thevet, The new found vvorlde, or Antarctike [1568], pp. 281-286 • Hans Staden, “The Captivity of Hans Staden of Hesse Among the Wild Tribes of

Eastern Brazil (1547-1555), pp. 256-262. • Michele de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals” [1580] pp. 228-241 • Anthony Grafton, “All Coherence Gone,” in New World, Ancient Texts: The Power

of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery, pp. 108-109; 132-141; 144-157 *Spend some time looking over the images of Hans Staden account: https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/search?search=SUBMIT&q=hans+stade&dateRangeStart=&dateRangeEnd=&QuickSearchA=QuickSearchA

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* “Autopsy” of the natural historical writings of Thevet’s Antarctike v.s. Léry’s History of Voyage [In class hand-out and exercise] Week 4 Terrestrial Paradise or Inferno? The Challenges of Settling and Converting the Amazon Monday, September 25

• Nicolas Wey Gómez, The Tropics of Empire, pp. 395-434. • “The State of the Maranhaõ: A Letter from Father Antonio Vieira S.J. (1653)” in in

Early Brazil: A Documentary Collection, ed. Stuart B. Schwartz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 290-296

• Garcilaso de la Vega, el Inca, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, pp. 1467-1468.

• Lope de Aguirre, “ Letter to King Phillip II, 1561,” pp. 1-3

* The Tropics of Empire in-class worksheet. Wednesday, September 27

• David Block, Mission Culture on the Upper Amazon: Native Tradition, Jesuit Enterprise and Secular Policy in Moxos, 1660-1880 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), pp. 78-102

• Otto Zwartjes, “Missionary Linguistics in Brazil,” in Portuguese Missionary Grammars in Asia, Africa and Brazil, 1550-1800, pp. 143-165.

* Spend some time looking over the images created by the Jesuit missionary Francisco Javier Eder (1727-1772) of the indigenous people of the Moxos region modern-day Bolivia: https://jcb.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/view/search?search=SUBMIT&q=moxos&dateRangeStart=&dateRangeEnd=&QuickSearchA=QuickSearchA 4 First Paper due Friday, September 29 by 5pm. Week 5 Mapping the Amazon: Problems of Possession and Imperial Rivalries Monday, October 2

• Cristobal de Acuña, Voyages and discoveries in South-America the first up the river of Amazons to Quito in Peru, and back again to Brazil (1641) pp. 44-46; 47; 61-81; 112-134; 135-142.

Wednesday, October 4

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• Samuel Fritz, Journal of the travels and labours of Father Samuel Fritz in the river of the Amazons between 1686 and 1723, pp. 47-79.

• Tamar Herzog, “Europeans and Indians: Conversion, Submission, and Land Rights,” in Frontiers of Possession: Spain and Portugal in Europe and the Americas (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015), 70-97.

★ The Mission [1986] Directed by Roland Jaffé [Optional] * The reception of Samuel Fritz’s Map. [In class hand-out and exercise] Week 6 The Enlightenment in the Tropics Monday, October 9

• Charles Maria de La Condamine, A succinct abridgment of a voyage made within the inland parts of South-America from the coasts of the South-sea, to the coasts of Brazil and Guiana, down the river of Amazons: as it was read in the public assembly of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, April 27, 1745, Preface; 27-38.

• Nicolas Beauzée, “Language,” in The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project, selections.

• Neil Safier, Measuring the New World Enlightenment science and South America pp, 57-92.

Wednesday, October 11

• Alexander Von Humboldt, “Exploration of the Casiquiare Canal” in Personal Narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of the New Continent, during the years 1799-1804: 5-14; 234-251.

• Laura Dassow Walls, “Passage to America 1799-1804,” in The Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Shaping of America, pp. 1-11; 55-83.

4 Second Think-Piece due in class (ca. 500 words). Week 7 Naturalists, Evolution, and the Amazon’s Resources in Nineteenth-Century Science and Medicine Monday, October 16

• Hecht and Cockburn, “The Realm of Nature,” The Fate of the Forest, pp. 16-37. • Henry Walter Bates, “ Excursions beyond Ega,” in The Naturalist on the River

Amazons, pp. 391-417.

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* Second paper prompt will be distributed. The Amazon and the Nineteenth-century Consolidation of Latin America’s Nation States Wednesday, October 18

• Euclides da Cunha, The Amazon: A Land Without History, pp. 3-43, 44-56; 64-76.

FALL BREAK

Week 8 Wednesday, October 25 VISIT TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

• José Eustacio Rivera, “ A Gaping Mouth Swallowing Men,” [ Excerpt from The Vortex], pp. 44-55

• Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, pp. 322-340. Monday, October 30

• Barbara Weinstein, “Chapter 1: Tappers and Traders,” in The Amazon Rubber Boom, 1850-1920, pp. 6-34

• “ RUBBER ATROCITIES SPARED NO VICTIM: Bluebook, Issued in London, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. New York Times (1857-1922); Jul 14, 1912; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times. (1 page)

• Manuel Córdova, “Amazonian Indians and the Rubber Boom,” in The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), pp. 203-214.

Week 9 Global Capitalist Frontiers of Rubber . Wednesday, November 1

• Greg Gandin, Fordlandia: The Rise of Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten City (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2009), pp. 1-18; 202-219; 294-342.

4 Second Paper due on Friday, November 3 by 5pm. Week 10 Structural Anthropology, Urbanization, and the Transformation of Indigenous Societies

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Monday, November 6 • Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques, 3-13; 15-60. * • Clifford Geertz in “ The World in a Text: How to Read Tristes Tropiques” in Works

and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author [1988] (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999), 25-48.

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• Susan Sontag, “ The Anthropologist as Hero,” in Claude Lévi-Strauss: The Anthropologist as Hero, ed. E.N. Haynes and T. Hayes, 184-196.

Wednesday, November 8

• Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques, pp. 319-367. *Spend some time looking at the images in: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Saudades do Brasil: A Photographic Memoir), 7-23; 162-200. • Stuart Schwartz, “Denounced by Lévi-Strauss,” The Americas Vol. 59, No. 1 (Jul.,

2002), pp. 1-8. [JSTOR] 4 Final Paper Topic Proposal Due in Class (= Third Think-Piece) Week 11 Development and Insurgency in Amazonia Monday, November 13

• Seth Garfield, In Search of the Amazon: Brazil, the United States, and the Nature of a Region, pp. 1-8; 170-212

Wednesday, November 15

• Michael F. Brown and Eduardo Fernández, War of Shadows: The Struggle for Utopia in the Peruvian Amazon (University of California Press, 1993), 1-13; 79-89; 164-188.

★ Iracema: Uma transa Amazônica [1975], directed by Jorge Bodanzky and Orlando Senna. [Moodle] Week 12 A Heart of Darkness? Colonialism and its Consequences Monday, November 20 ★ Fitzcarraldo [1982], directed by Werner Herzog [Moodle]

• Michael F. Brown, “Art of Darkness,” The Progressive 46 (8): 20-21. THANKSGIVING RECESS

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Monday, November 27 ★ The Burden of Dreams [1982], directed by Les Bank [ Moodle] Week 13 Global Jungle: The Rise of Environmentalism Wednesday, November 29

• Chico Mendes, Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in his Own Words, pp. 15-27; 29-39;57-67;79-82;83-85.

• Hecht and Cockburn, “Chapter 7: The Furies Unleashed,” pp. 142-179.

4 Final Paper Drafts or outlines due on Friday, December 1 by midnight via email. Monday, December 4

• Hecht and Cockburn, “Chapter 8: The Defenders of the Amazon,” pp. 142-179 • Candace Slater, “Lakes within Lakes,” in Entangled Edens: Visions of the Amazon,

pp. 159-181. PAPER PRESENTATIONS I Week 14 Climate Change and the Future of the Amazon Wednesday, December 6

• Hecht and Cockburn, “Chapter 9: The Ecology of Justice,” pp.217-240. • Yadvinder Malhi, J. Timmons Roberts, et al, “Climate Change, Deforestation, and

the Fate of the Amazon,” Science New Series, Vol. 319, No. 5860 (Jan. 11, 2008), pp. 169-172.

PAPER PRESENTATIONS II

READING PERIOD

Final Paper Due on the Last Day of Reading Period at 5 p.m. Image References (left to right): Walter Raleigh, Kvrtze wvnderbare Beschreibvng, desz goldreichen Königreichs Gvianae in America (1599); William Piso, Historia naturalis Brasiliae (1628); Joseph Skinner, The Present State of Peru (1805) All available at The John Carter Brown Archive of Early American Images.

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**Some of the readings may be modified.