Photos from Taim and Rio dos Cachorros

Being a tourist in Brazil was a phenomenal experience. Being a graduate student at an academic conference on social and environmental policy in Brazil's northeastern region was also wonderful- and intense and deeply engaging. The Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA) brought together a diverse array of Brazilian and American scholars in the fields of anthropology, geography, and ecology (and literature, though to a lesser degree) for a four day conference that covered an enormous amount of information.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was a trip to several traditional communities to see firsthand how their local economies worked, what the natural resources of the area were, and what issues were important to the people who've been living there for centuries. The trip to Taim and Rio dos Cachorros made many of the scholarly papers (and the debates surrounding their arguments) become so much more real and immediate.

Here are the photos I took from those communities, who are currently engaged in an effort to protect their traditional way of life, their environment, and to make their local economy flourish as a result of the preservation of these lands (rather than at their expense): 

***

I've got several more posts on Brazil in the works! Stay tuned-- until next time, dear petticoat rustlers!