Book Talk: “Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil: An Environmental History of Low-Carbon Energy, 1960s-1990s”

An HMEI book talk event with Environmental Fellow Matthew P. Johnson and discussants Vera Candiani and Miqueias Mugge.

During the later twentieth century, Brazil’s right-wing military dictatorship built a vast network of hydropower dams that became one of the world’s biggest low-carbon electricity grids. Weighed against these carbon savings, what were the costs? Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil unpacks the social and environmental implications of this project, from the displacement of Indigenous and farming communities to the destruction of Amazonian biodiversity. Drawing on rich archival material from forty sites across Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States, including rarely accessed personal collections, the book explores the story of the military officers and engineers who created the dams and the protestors who fought them. Brazilian examples are analyzed within their global context, highlighting national issues with broad consequences for both social and environmental justice. In our race to halt global warming, it is vital that we learn from past experiences and draw clear distinctions between true environmentalism and greenwashed political expedience.

 

Speakers

Matthew P. Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s High Meadow’s Environmental Institute. He is an environmental historian of modern Latin America with expertise in global framing and connections and thematic specializations in energy, anthropogenic climate change, and socio-environmental injustice.

Vera Candiani is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Princeton University. She is a historian of colonial Latin America who specializes in the confluence of history of technology, environmental history, and social history.

Miqueias Mugge is an Academic Research Manager in the Brazil LAB at PIIRS. His Research focuses on the political economy of war, slavery, and empire-building in Latin America.

  • This event has passed.

Book Talk: “Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil: An Environmental History of Low-Carbon Energy, 1960s-1990s”

Event Date

Thu, Apr 3, 2025 ・ 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Location

Robertson Hall, Room 001

Department

, ,

An HMEI book talk event with Environmental Fellow Matthew P. Johnson and discussants Vera Candiani and Miqueias Mugge.

During the later twentieth century, Brazil’s right-wing military dictatorship built a vast network of hydropower dams that became one of the world’s biggest low-carbon electricity grids. Weighed against these carbon savings, what were the costs? Hydropower in Authoritarian Brazil unpacks the social and environmental implications of this project, from the displacement of Indigenous and farming communities to the destruction of Amazonian biodiversity. Drawing on rich archival material from forty sites across Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States, including rarely accessed personal collections, the book explores the story of the military officers and engineers who created the dams and the protestors who fought them. Brazilian examples are analyzed within their global context, highlighting national issues with broad consequences for both social and environmental justice. In our race to halt global warming, it is vital that we learn from past experiences and draw clear distinctions between true environmentalism and greenwashed political expedience.

 

Speakers

Matthew P. Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s High Meadow’s Environmental Institute. He is an environmental historian of modern Latin America with expertise in global framing and connections and thematic specializations in energy, anthropogenic climate change, and socio-environmental injustice.

Vera Candiani is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Princeton University. She is a historian of colonial Latin America who specializes in the confluence of history of technology, environmental history, and social history.

Miqueias Mugge is an Academic Research Manager in the Brazil LAB at PIIRS. His Research focuses on the political economy of war, slavery, and empire-building in Latin America.