Brazil Studies Section: Current Trends in Brazilian History—Place, People, and the Environment

The study of the environment has notoriously left out humans. Also, studies of places and people still overlook the role the environment plays in social construction. Yet, recent studies have examined how humans have renegotiated space, playing a role not only as actors of destruction but also protectors and promoters of identities intricately linked to the environment. The roundtable discussion looks at recent trends in historical research that show how historians are approaching place, people, and the environment in new and exciting ways. This panel will look at different historical studies of humans (and non-humans) in the environment across Brazilian history. How have these actors negotiated space? How have these actions been erased in the archive? How do historians recover these histories?