Into the Amazon: Chico Mendes and the Struggle for the Rain Forest

Ron Goldsmith is a professor of Geography at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute.

From relative obscurity as little as a decade ago, the Amazon Basin has
emerged as one of the world’s most celebrated and image-rich regions.
Unfortunately, the reasons for its sudden notoriety are mostly negative
ones. News of large-scale hydroelectric and mineral developments, and of
the concomitant impact on Native peoples and on small-scale landowners,
have been widely reported, and stories of massive deforestation have
focused our new awareness.

Into the Amazon is principally concerned with the region’s
traditional inhabitants and their increasingly intense struggle to
survive economically, politically, and culturally. Dwyer, a Canadian
journalist, has travelled extensively in the region, and has spent time
in many of its traditional communities. She presents the book as a
narrative account of her observations.

Her narrative creates interplay among three themes. The first is the
way of life, both traditional and “modernized,” of the rubber
tappers, river people, and Native cultures. This aspect of Dwyer’s
work is particularly laudable, as her view of the people is sympathetic
but not highly romanticized. Inhabitants’ values and ways of life are
reported, described, and occasionally explained, but rarely judged.

The second theme is change, highlighted by the wave of transformations
being generated by ranching, road construction, economic development
projects, and other forces. The focus is on cultural change,
sociopolitical tensions, and the lamentable position of the relatively
powerless inhabitants in attempting to preserve something of their
cultural integrity.

The third theme, a specific variant on the second, focuses on the late
Chico Mendes and the rubber tappers’ union. Although Dwyer presents
some worthwhile insights into Mendes and his work, this theme is never
fully integrated into the book. While it provides a useful vehicle for
exploring the region’s political tensions, it fails to add coherence
or depth to the narrative.

This is an interesting, informative, and generally well-crafted book.
It presents a view of the Amazon and its inhabitants that goes beyond
the often naive and romanticized images portrayed in the popular media.
Its organization is sometimes cumbersome, but Dwyer succeeds in helping
the reader see the Amazon through a different lens.