The Once and Future Amazon: New Horizons in Amazonian Studies

Supported by a generous “Sawyer Seminar” grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center for Latin American Studies at Brown convened a series of seminars and workshops in 2018-19 on the theme of “Race and Indigeneity in the Americas.” Although the JCB was not a formal recipient of funding, in April 2019 Director and Librarian Neil Safier co-convened one of the three workshops with colleagues from Brazil (Camila Dias of Unicamp) and the UK (Mark Harris from St. Andrews). Anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and literary scholars from around the world joined Safier, Dias, and Harris for three days of intensive discussion about the future of Amazonian studies in Brazil, North America, and beyond. Their activities included a visit to the Haffenreffer Collections Site in Bristol, several public events that brought together Brown students and faculty from Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and History, and a collaborative session at the JCB with materials from the Library’s burgeoning Amazonian collection.