This interdisciplinary symposium brings scholars from around the world to discuss the shared histories and futures of the Andes and Amazon regions of South America. The meeting will feature specialists in lowland and highland tropical ecologies, Andes and Amazon plus linked archaeologies, histories, and ethnographies, plus work on this vital region across the social sciences, arts, and humanities. The aim is to link scholarship that has long separated specialists and students of tropical South America as the region undergoes a host of new challenges, human and nonhuman.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s extraordinary political career spans five decades. Lula has become one of the most fascinating political operators of our young century. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency of Brazil in 1989, 1994, and 1988 before winning in 2002. He served two terms as President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010, ending his second mandate as one of the most popular politicians in the world.

Dr. Antonio La Pastina (Texas A&M University) will present a lecture “Remembering Brazil: Television Consumption, Autoethnography, and the Emotional Cost of an Authoritarian Regime.” Abstract: