Boundaries of Nature: National Parks and Environmental Change at the Argentine-Brazilian Border, 1890-1990

FAIN: FEL-262061-19

Frederico Santos Soares de Freitas
North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC 27695-0001)

A book-length study about the creation and legacy of twin national parks in Argentina and Brazil that border the majestic Iguazú Falls.

This study utilizes the creation of two border national parks, the Argentine Iguazú National Park (1934) and the Brazilian Iguaçu National Park (1939), as a window to understanding decades of territorial policy and social and environmental change at the Argentine-Brazilian border. It draws from a wide variety of untapped sources—government papers, interviews, maps, and historical aerial and satellite imagery—unearthed for my Ph.D. dissertation completed in 2016. In this project, I analyze the effects of the establishment of national parks on landscape and society, following shifts in environmental policy in Argentina and Brazil—from programs that combined nature conservation and frontier colonization to a new paradigm that set national parks in opposition to development. The result, after a year of work funded by an NEH fellowship, will be a book manuscript on the environmental history of the Argentine-Brazilian borderland.

Media Coverage

Historias Podcast Interview (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Frederico Freitas, Carlos Dimas
Publication: Historias Podcast
Date: 11/3/2021
Abstract: Interview with Carlos Dimas for Historias Podcast, a show produced by the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, about "Nationalizing Nature" book, November 2021.
URL: open.spotify.com/episode/3qeVs0lGrTNwNhmnxBNfZn?si=qi5Tnh5PQHayn1-UiIPKpg

Interview for NC State News (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Frederico Freitas
Publication: Nc State News
Date: 3/10/2021
Abstract: Interview with Matt Shipman for NC State News about "Nationalizing Nature" book, March 2021.
URL: https://news.ncsu.edu/2021/03/borders-politics-iguazu-falls/

New Books Network: Frederico Freitas, Nationalizing Nature (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Frederico Freitas, Elena McGrath
Publication: New Books Network (Podcast)
Date: 8/26/2022
Abstract: In Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border (Cambridge UP, 2021), Frederico Freitas uncovers the crucial role played by conservation in the region’s territorial development by exploring how Brazil and Argentina used national parks to nationalize borderlands. In the 1930s, Brazil and Argentina created some of their first national parks around the massive Iguazu Falls, shared by the two countries. The parks were designed as tools to attract migrants from their densely populated Atlantic seaboards to a sparsely inhabited borderland. In the 1970s, a change in paradigm led the military regimes in Brazil and Argentina to violently evict settlers from their national parks, highlighting the complicated relationship between authoritarianism and conservation in the Southern Cone. By tracking almost one hundred years of national park history in Latin America’s largest countries, Nationalizing Nature shows how conservation policy promoted national progra
URL: https://newbooksnetwork.com/nationalizing-nature

Associated Products

Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border. (Book)
Title: Nationalizing Nature: Iguazu Falls and National Parks at the Brazil-Argentina Border.
Author: Frederico Freitas
Abstract: Today, one-quarter of all the land in Latin America is set apart for nature protection. In Nationalizing Nature, Frederico Freitas uncovers the crucial role played by conservation in the region's territorial development by exploring how Brazil and Argentina used national parks to nationalize borderlands. In the 1930s, Brazil and Argentina created some of their first national parks around the massive Iguazu Falls, shared by the two countries. The parks were designed as tools to attract migrants from their densely populated Atlantic seaboards to a sparsely inhabited borderland. In the 1970s, a change in paradigm led the military regimes in Brazil and Argentina to violently evict settlers from their national parks, highlighting the complicated relationship between authoritarianism and conservation in the Southern Cone. By tracking almost one hundred years of national park history in Latin America's largest countries, Nationalizing Nature shows how conservation policy promoted national programs of frontier development and border control.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1201384418
Primary URL Description: WorldCat page.
Secondary URL: http://www.cambridge.org/9781108844833
Secondary URL Description: Publisher page (Cambridge University Press).
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978110884483
Copy sent to NEH?: No

Prizes

Bryce Wood Book Award (Honorable Mention)
Date: 5/5/2022
Organization: Latin American Studies Association
Abstract: At each International Congress, the Latin American Studies Association presents the Bryce Wood Book Award to an outstanding book on Latin America in the social sciences and humanities published in English.

Sérgio Buarque de Holanda Prize (Honorable Prize)
Date: 5/5/2022
Organization: The Brazil Section of the Latin American Studies Association
Abstract: Best book in social sciences on Brazil

Warren Dean Memorial Prize (Winner)
Date: 1/5/2023
Organization: Conference on Latin American History
Abstract: The Warren Dean Memorial Prize was established in 1995 and carries a stipend of $500. It recognizes the book or article judged to be the most significant work on the history of Brazil published in English during the year prior to the award year. Publications by scholars other than historians will be considered as long as the work has substantial historical content. Comparative works (e. g. on Brazil and another country) will be eligible as long as they include a substantial amount of material on Brazil.

---