Nature, Knowledge, and Society in the Pantanal of Brazil and Bolivia
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THE UNKNOWN LANDS: NATURE, KNOWLEDGE, AND SOCIETY IN THE PANTANAL OF BRAZIL AND BOLIVIA Jason B. Kauffman A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Chapel Hill 2015 Approved by: Cynthia Radding John Chasteen Miguel La Serna John French Arturo Escobar © 2015 Jason B. Kauffman ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Jason B. Kauffman: The Unknown Lands: Nature, Knowledge, and Society in the Pantanal of Brazil and Bolivia (Under the direction of Cynthia Radding) This dissertation examines the modern history of the Pantanal, a seasonally-flooded wetland in the upper Paraguay River watershed at the border between Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Scientists and environmentalists currently regard the Pantanal as a wildlife-rich and “pristine” ecosystem threatened by uncontrolled development. I seek to understand the historical roots of these perceptions through an analysis of the transnational set of social actors – naturalists, boundary officials, indigenous peoples, field scientists, merchants, ranchers, cowboys, and hunters – who made discursive and material claims upon the Pantanal from 1870 to 1967. During this period, the Pantanal experienced rapid integration into global flows of commerce and a network of ranchers, merchants, and government officials formed to profit from a growing trade in cattle products and other commodities, including ipecacuanha, quebracho, and wild animal products. To justify their efforts to control space and the movement of people and goods through the Pantanal, these groups perpetuated a myth of isolation with origins in the colonial period. While the myth of isolation persisted, this study also reveals how perceptions of the Pantanal changed over time and varied according to social position. While powerful stakeholders (officials, engineers, merchants) viewed the Pantanal ecology as a problem to be overcome, rural populations used cycles of flood and drought to their advantage, adopting mobile lives and subsistence strategies that drew upon the resources of the Pantanal and iii neighboring biomes. During the first half of the twentieth century, a critical shift occurred when field scientists identified the Pantanal as an ideal location for zoological specimen collection and Brazilian and international sportsmen rediscovered the region as a “paradise” for hunters. While development-minded stakeholders continued to search for ways to shape the Pantanal into the mold of progress, by the 1960s a growing number of social groups questioned this imperative and articulated a need to protect the region and its wildlife. In the process, they silenced the voices of local populations who continued to subsist upon the region and its resources. These competing perceptions of the Pantanal planted the seeds for a conflict over conservation and development that defines the region to this day. iv To Lisa v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have written this dissertation without the guidance, support, and encouragement of many people over a long period, stretching back to my years as an undergraduate student at Goshen College. At Goshen, historians John Roth, Steve Nolt, and Jan Bender Shetler took an active interest in my development as a student, taught me how to think critically, and impressed upon me the importance of clear writing. Jan’s class on environmental history revealed the exciting ways that scholars were using the tools of the environmental sciences to interpret and understand the actions of humans in the past. I was unaware at the time, but this class introduced me to many of the questions that I later pursued as a graduate student and that, eventually, became central to my dissertation project. One year after completing my degree, I decided to pursue a graduate program that would allow me to combine my interests in history and Latin America. Up to that point, my only experiences with the region came through a semester of study and service abroad in Cuba and Costa Rica and a political science course on Latin American revolutions. I am grateful to the Department of History at the University of New Mexico for taking a chance on an inexperienced but eager student. UNM is an excellent place to study Latin American history and the department’s wide course offerings helped me to fill many gaps in my knowledge. Kimberly Gauderman, Linda Hall, and Liz Hutchison are all excellent teachers and their passion for the history of Latin America was contagious and challenged me to think in new ways. Judy Bieber introduced me to the fascinating world of Brazilian history and, although I did not have a chance to work with him personally, Sam Truett’s scholarship in vi the field of borderlands history inspired me to make its key questions and debates central to my dissertation. Both at UNM and UNC, I had the privilege of learning from an excellent cohort of fellow graduate students – including, but not limited to, Frank Alvarez, Shawn Austin, Justin Blanton, Angélica Castillo, Scott Crago, Rebecca Ellis, Julian Dodson, Jeff Erbig, Lucy Grinnell, Bonnie Lucero, Nydia Martínez, Katie McIntryre, and Ben Reed – whose fresh perspectives and critical analyses of scholarship made me a better historian. At the University of North Carolina, I further developed my interests in environmental and borderlands history through coursework and independent study. Two extra years of coursework gave me the time I needed to conceptualize, design, and establish the overarching goals of the dissertation project. Throughout this process, my adviser Cynthia Radding offered unflagging support and was willing to let me follow the sources, even though they took my project in unexpected directions. During the writing process, her advice and careful readings of my work helped me to think through the theoretical and conceptual implications of my project and to discern how each chapter fit into the whole. I am also indebted to John Chasteen, who taught me the importance of storytelling and narrative structure in the writing of history. John also helped me to think through some questions of argument and conceptualization at a key moment in the writing process and Robert Wilcox read an early version of the chapter on commercial hunting. The rest of my dissertation committee – Miguel La Serna, Arturo Escobar, and John French – provided critical feedback that improved the overall quality of the dissertation. Of course, any errors of fact or interpretation that remain are mine alone. Research for the dissertation would not have been possible without the professional, personal, and financial support of many people in Bolivia, Brazil, and the United States. The vii Conference on Latin American History, the American Historical Association, the Department of History at UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC’s Institute for the Study of the Americas provided critical short-term support in the early stages of dissertation research. In 2011, when the U.S. Department of Education cut funding for the Fulbright-Hays program, the Mellon Foundation and the Institute of International Education stepped in to fund and administer the program. Without this support, I could not have traveled to Bolivia and Brazil with my family in 2012 to conduct the archival research that anchored my dissertation. In 2013, the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine also granted me a short-term fellowship which allowed me to complete research for the chapter on field scientists in the Pantanal. Many people and institutions made the time I spent researching in Bolivia and Brazil both productive and enjoyable. In Santa Cruz, Paula Peña Hasbún, Luis Enrique Rivero Coimbra, and Santos Frias Cabrera welcomed me to the Museo de Historia Regional, introduced me to others in the academic community, and wrote letters of introduction to other archives. I would also like to thank Junior Pantoja Abrego, José Burela Valdivia, and Ariel Villarroel Herbas for their friendship and generosity during my first trip to Santa Cruz in 2010 and for teaching me about the history of eastern Bolivia. In La Paz, Raquel Lara Gómez and José Pradel introduced me to the rich holdings at the Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Bolivia and put them at my disposal over the course of a highly productive month. My time in Brazil was also extremely fruitful. In Rio de Janeiro, the excellent staffs at the Biblioteca Nacional, the Arquivo Nacional, the Arquivo Histórico do Itamaraty, the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, and the Arquivo da História da Ciência at the Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins answered my inquiries and streamlined the research process. viii None of my research in Mato Grosso would have been possible without the support of Fernando Tadeu de Miranda Borges. Aside from helping me and my family secure lodging and introducing me to scholars at the federal university, Fernando spent hours teaching me about the history of Mato Grosso and its place in the broader picture of Brazilian history and culture. Along with his support as a mentor, I also valued his friendship and I hope that, in some small way, I can repay his generosity in the future. I would also like to thank the staffs of the Arquivo Público de Mato Grosso, the Núcleo de Documentação e Informação Histórica Regional, and the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Mato Grosso for opening their collections to me. In Cáceres, the faculty in the department of history at the Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso – including Domingos Sávio da Cunha Garcia, João Ivo Puhl, and Maria do Socorro Araújo – took an interest in my project and facilitated my access to municipal archives and libraries. I am especially indebted to Socorro, who offered me a place to stay in Cáceres and shared freely of her encyclopedic knowledge of Brazilian history and to “as gêmeas” Evelin Cáceres Dan and Vivian Cáceres Dan who welcomed me as their American brother.