Waubonsee Community College

Daughters of the canopy, by Trilby MacDonald

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Daughters of the canopy

electronic resource

747796903

by Trilby MacDonald

57

This vibrant film focuses on the struggles and successes of two local women's groups fighting to preserve their land, forests and way of life in Brazil's Amazon region. The women combine scientific study, political advocacy and grassroots activism to save their communities fields and forests from ranchers and loggers and to improve their standard of living. The farmers in Quinandeua invited Dr. Patricia Shanley, an American ethno-botanist from the Woods Hole Research Center, to educate the community about the use of non-timber forest products. As one villager says, "she showed us the value of the forest, that wood and fruit are both important." They have become aware that the forests must stay intact for fruits and herbs to be harvested for food and medicine. Through their participation in local politics and education, the women are gaining confidence and respect in what has been a traditionally male-dominated society for the past five hundred years. Throughout the region, women s associations are forming and becoming increasingly organized and politically engaged. In Nova Timboteua, ranchers seized the farmers land illegally, and brutally in some cases. Women resisted and organized against them. Their efforts are part of a growing tide of popular unrest that is driving a profound political and social struggle to restructure the way resources are divided in Brazil. In the Amazon, the conflict with big business is most extreme. The women s groups are inspiring other Amazonians to take action to improve their lives

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