The Decade of Destruction 1000- 1500 words
Watch any 2 episodes of your choice from the documentary series “The Decade of Destruction” (links in the attachment below). Then attend one of the sessions of this upcoming event at Tulane (this Friday, March 18th), Revisiting “The Decade of Destruction” (1990): An Amazon Retrospective, where various professors will be discussing the themes around the documentary in themed panels throughout the day.
Then write a short paper discussing any theme of your choice related to either something seen in the documentaries or learned from the event. Your paper should incorporate a few different types of sources in it, at least one of each of the following kinds:
1) A primary, archival source of any kind
2) One academic, peer-reviewed source on the subject
3) A more recent news article related to the subject (from the past 10 years)
Your paper should be between 1000-1500 words. You can include as many sources as you wish but must have at least one of each type above.
Amazon Tulane 2022.docx 
Download Amazon Tulane 2022.docx
Requirements: 1000- 1500 words
This one-day, multi-disciplinary symposium uses the landmark Frontline documentary series “The Decade of Destruction,” released in 1990 and directed by Adrian Cowell, to revisit the Amazon crisis of the 1980s and the subsequent transformation of Amazon studies. What do we now know about Greater Amazonia that we did not know then? Tulane scholars and postdoctoral fellows from Anthropology, Communications, Political Science, Art History, Sociology, History, and Literature will address topics related to the greater Amazon basin, including archaeological and ethno-botanical reconnaissance, aerial surveillance, mining and oil/gas drilling, hydro-electric expansion, deforestation, migration and colonization, cattle ranching, electoral politics, Indigenous environmental ethics, parks and preserves, and global action (and inaction). We know that the Amazon region is in greater peril now than ever, and not just in Brazil. As the strains of the COVID-19 pandemic fade, what is to be done?
Answer Preview
The film chosen for this exercise is “the Decade of Destruction,” a documentary produced by Adrian Cowell and broadcasted on the PBS Frontline. The film debuted in the early 2000s unmasking the chronicles of the Destruction of the environment, especially the Amazon rainforest. Cowell began to film the amazon rainforest in the 1980s, recording every information or activity around this ecological system. He documented the systematic Destruction of this forest in late 1990 when there was news that the fire could be managed. The film provides a series of episodes starting with a reminiscent of the Amazon rainforest even before it was undestroyed. The film depicts the attractive ecological system that blossomed perfectly uninterrupted by humans (PBS Frontline. 2002).
(1184 words)