From Ancestral Pathways to Climate Emergency: The centrality of rivers in an Amazonian perspective

Interweaving life stories and field notes, I describe how rivers, and the Xingu River in particular, structure the way Amazonian societies live, perceive and feel the world. In a historical journey from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, I describe the particularities of the everyday life of the riverine communities and their knowledge system related to the ecological dynamics of the river and the forest, transformed into an inhabited world. Finally, I review how the damming of the Xingu River and recent extreme climatic events have affected local dynamics, and how strategies associated with traditional knowledge have proved effective in coping with ecological degradation and climate change, as well as enabling the permanence of the interconnection between these communities and the rivers.