This book is available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of the European Research Council, through Project ECO, and of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, through Project RESILIENT.
How extractivism has shaped the Amazon and how literature, film, and the arts challenge exploitation while imagining more sustainable futures
This book argues that extractivism is not simply an economic practice but a worldview that treats lands, peoples, knowledge, and ecosystems as resources to be exploited. Focusing on the Amazon River Basin, contributors examine how extractivist violence has transformed environments, societies, and systems of knowledge since the colonial era while foregrounding the ways it has been contested and resisted by those most affected by it.
Bringing together scholars from history, anthropology, literary studies, film and media studies, art criticism, and environmental humanities, The Amazon Beyond Extractivism looks closely at the work of Indigenous and traditional communities that have been targeted by extraction, from manganese mining to artistic appropriation. Topics include Urarina chants that protect communities from harms associated with oil drilling; ecofeminist readings of contemporary Peruvian and Brazilian novels; documentary photography of human rights abuses, deforestation, and protest; Indigenous filmmaking initiatives; and an Arakbut memoir recounting the environmental violence of the rubber boom.
This volume demonstrates that cultural production does more than reflect environmental conflict. It can make extractivism visible, challenge its assumptions, and help imagine alternative futures. By centering Indigenous perspectives and examining cultural and political resistance, this interdisciplinary book offers a timely new analysis of the Amazon and contributes to debates on environmental justice, decolonization, climate change, and sustainable futures.
