The projects Conservation Frontiers and Engaging Indigenous Ecologies of Knowledges, led by João Biehl (Susan Dod Brown Professor and Chair of Anthropology and Director of the Brazil LAB), Agustín Fuentes (Professor of Anthropology), and Carlos Fausto (PIIRS Global Scholar and Professor at Brazil’s Museu Nacional), have been awarded a New Ideas in the Social Sciences Grant from the Office of the Dean for Research and an Exploratory Grant in Collaborative Humanities by the Humanities Council.

The projects will explore how to combine the ecological knowledge and practices of Amazonian Indigenous peoples with conservation sciences and anthropological perspectives, with an eye towards reshaping ideas of conservation and identifying ways to better protect the Amazonian ecosystem. Biehl, Fuentes, and Fausto will collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of Princeton young scholars to gain insight into Indigenous perspectives and methods for protecting the rainforest. By engaging anthropological and interdisciplinary research and partnering with Indigenous and local communities, the team aims to develop a working toolkit for Amazonian forest protection that is grounded in history and in Indigenous and local knowledge and practices and in critical dialogue with conservation sciences and agendas.

The grants will support the creation of a research group consisting of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from Princeton and academic institutions in Brazil and the organization of workshops and a digital platform.