The first activity of the Amazon: An Editorial Residency, carried out by seLecT in partnership with Pro Helvetia, was an interview with archaeologists Eduardo Neves (São Paulo, 1966) and Jennifer Watling (…), from the Tropics Archeology Laboratory (Arqueotrop), within the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at the University of São Paulo (MAE USP). The researchers develop the hypothesis, based on an interdisciplinary investigation that involves archeology, anthropology and history, that the Amazon rainforest is the result of interactions between nature and local populations. In addition to demystifying the notion of the forest as a pure natural event, demonstrating how diversity is the central practice of indigenous populations in managing the selection and cultivation of plants, Neves and Watling sustain the idea of ​​the Amazon as a biocultural asset. Fundamental to the climate and ecological maintenance of the planet as a whole, the forest is also a repository of indigenous knowledge and practices that point to other forms of relationships between humans and non-humans.

The interview was conducted by Leandro Muniz and Paula Alzugaray, curators of Residência Editorial, with the participation of resident artists Denilson Baniwa, Vanessa Lorenzo and Guerreiro do Divino Amor and the team formed by Nina Lins and Claudio Savaget. The broadcast featured translation and interpretation by Laura Valente. We would also like to thank Sandra Pandeló for her kindness in putting us in contact with archaeologists, who are of fundamental importance in the development of research and reflections on the Amazon territory.

Eduardo Neves and Jennifer Watling talk about the Amazon as a biocultural heritage

Eduardo Neves and Jennifer Watling talk about the difference between domestication and the concept of familiarization

Eduardo Neves speaks of the concept of vegetal alterity

Eduardo Neves and Jennifer Watling talk about the participation of indigenous people in archaeological research

Eduardo Neves and Jennifer Watling discuss “the archaeology of the tropics”

Eduardo Neves and Jennifer Watling talk about the possibility of new pandemics