The Amazon raises questions and fascinates us. But the Amazon, as a homogeneous entity, exists only in our imagination (let us not forget that this term was coined by Westerners). Instead, it should be seen as a kaleidoscopic image, reflecting very different realities. Let us therefore speak of a plural Amazon.
The context of the multifaceted crises we are currently experiencing is prompting us to seek alternative paths to escape the dominant paradigm, which is the source of these crises.
Guided by this question, José Augusto Lacerda Fernandes, a professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), an expert in the bioeconomy and a frequent visiting researcher at LEST, and Héloïse Berkowitz, a researcher at LEST, coordinator of the ANR MetaOrgTrans project and co-founder of the Peer Community in Organisation Studies, organised academic meetings in Belém, at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), in the Amazon region, on 29 March, 30 March and 1 April 2026, in a format designed to be unique.
This trilateral workshop between Brazil, French Guiana and France focused on the following theme: «Organising differently for alternative futures: developing an inclusive bioeconomy in the Pan-Amazon region through meta-organisations and indigenous peoples».
This three-day workshop received the support and trust of the Amazônia+10 initiative and its institutional partners, in particular the National Council of Foundations for Research Support (CONFAP), the Franco-Brazilian Centre for Amazonian Biodiversity (CFBBA) and the French Embassy in Brazil.
Reflecting these questions in its organisation and in the care taken to ensure participation, the workshop paid particular attention to the expression and representation of Indigenous voices and other perspectives. Discussions centred in particular on how different traditions of knowledge and wisdom – upheld notably by the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and by educational and scientific communities in the Global South – can engage in dialogue to broaden our understanding of contemporary social orders and explore other perspectives, other ways of organising ourselves and alternative paths towards social and ecological transformation.
This workshop has been designed in a particular way, breaking away from academic norms, and reflects a strong commitment to:
- to create a space for the exchange of knowledge and experiences where everyone could express themselves in a supportive manner; ;
- to give a voice to researchers from Indigenous peoples across different regions of the Amazon, including French Guiana, which is all too often ignored, marginalised or forced to conform to standards imposed by the North; ;
- to combine plenary sessions with field visits, offering an immersive and sensory experience of what it means to work in an Amazonian environment characterised by heat, humidity, rich ecosystems and the omnipresence of life; ;
- to capture and showcase the vibrancy of cultural exchange through art and creativity, by inviting artists and organisers of artistic expression workshops; ;
- to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and other key players in the local bioeconomy to meet, in order to encourage cross-sector dialogue and highlight the university’s strong links with the local area; ;
- to prioritise French and Portuguese as the working and dialogue languages, using real-time translation by human translators, whilst taking care to reflect the diversity of perspectives rooted in their respective contexts.
In keeping with this original and unique format, this workshop was a rare and precious experience, rich in colour: literally, with the vibrant impressions of the Amazon region; and figuratively, with participants from different cultures – Brazilian, Guyanese and French – offering diverse and complementary perspectives.
A delicate balance has been struck
- ranging from accounts of the struggles and suffering of indigenous peoples to reports on local initiatives – carefully planned and organised to promote a more inclusive pan-Amazonian development – with entrepreneurs actively present to showcase their work and products; ;
- between innovative theoretical approaches that offer hope that a different way of organising ourselves is possible, and interdisciplinary debates free from domination, thanks in particular to the contributions of PhD students and recent PhD graduates from La Rabeja; ;
- between the three core cultural identities underpinning the workshop – namely Brazil, French Guiana and mainland France; an invitation to redefine one’s identity as a researcher through an inner balance between rationality and creativity, between science and art.
Three key takeaways from the workshop
The first is to gain a better understanding of the epistemologies espoused by Indigenous researchers, as well as the various struggles of Indigenous peoples across the Pan-Amazon region, and their relationship to the development of the bioeconomy and to the issue of governance by meta-organisations (lectures by Francisco Apurina, Braulina Baniwa and Ana Clara Souza).
The second is to gain a better understanding of the alternative solutions that are already available, both theoretical (notably Héloïse Berkowitz’s lecture on alternative organisations and Philippe Eynaud’s lecture on «alternative management») as well as practical ones (through the case studies described by Antonio Adevaldo da Costa on the alternative solutions implemented by the ribeirinha communities, and Gisèle Silva’s work on the Kassawa communities’ experiments in developing a bioeconomy despite significant challenges).
The third is to nurture one’s identity as a researcher by accepting that it is multifaceted, based on our combined ability to think, imagine, feel and act.
The combination of these three areas of study has helped to broaden perspectives by embracing other world views, to explore new realms of possibility and to bring alternatives to the fore, whilst strengthening an emerging and committed network of researchers.
