Special Forum: Films Every Environmental Historian Should See

The Charcoal People portrays carvoeiros' lives through nuanced biographies, focusing on the socially produced identity of the carvoeiro as an inherent part of the destruction of forests, and on their bodies as an anachronistic technology, rooted in mid-nineteenth century charcoal production. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental history 2007-04, Vol.12 (2), p.280-293
Main Authors: de Andrade-Downs, Renata Marson Teixeira, Beinart, William, Bess, Michael, Brady, Lisa M., Brooking, Tom, Brosnan, Kathleen, Carruthers, Jane, Colten, Craig E., Cushman, Gregory T., Dunaway, Finis, Hall, Marcus, Donald Hughes, J., Ivey, Linda L., Kinsey, Darin, Lewis, James G., MacDonald, Scott, Martin, Jennifer Adams, Melendy, Cynthia, Mighetto, Lisa, Miller, Char, Mitman, Gregg, Morse, Kathryn, Pawson, Eric, Pomeranz, Kenneth, Pyne, Stephen J., Ritvo, Harriet, Rome, Adam, Rosen, Christine Meisner, Rosner, David, Silver, Timothy, Steinberg, Ted, Stine, Jeffrey K., Taylor, Joseph E., Weiner, Douglas R., Weisiger, Marsha, Wiedenfeld, Melissa, Wynn, Graeme
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children & youth
Documentary films
Environmental justice
Environmental protection
Health hazards
Motion pictures
Steel production
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Summary:The Charcoal People portrays carvoeiros' lives through nuanced biographies, focusing on the socially produced identity of the carvoeiro as an inherent part of the destruction of forests, and on their bodies as an anachronistic technology, rooted in mid-nineteenth century charcoal production. The film adds a historical perspective on the anachronism of current charcoal production by connecting the bodies of carvoeiros with those of Brazil Indian and African slaves who produced charcoal during the peak of mid-nineteenthcentury smelting and forging in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. However, this film also presents an in-depth perspective on what sort of hardships those sixty-thousand carvoeiros face in Brazil, with vulnerable and volatile work contracts, child labor, and worsening living and working conditions, as they migrate and follow multinational steelmakers toward the Amazon forest. Environmental history as a discipline is incorporating the roles of race, gender, and class in environmental transformations by focusing on anachronistic and subaltern histories, borrowing from concepts in political ecology, environmental anthropology, and environmental justice.
ISSN:1084-5453
1930-8892
DOI:10.1093/envhis/12.2.280