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Urban life has long intrigued Indigenous Amazonians, who regard cities as the locus of both extraordinary power and danger. Modern and ancient cities alike have thus become models for the representation of extreme alterity under the guise of supernatural enchanted cities. This volume seeks to analyze how these ambiguous urban imaginaries-complex representations that function as cognitive tools and blueprints for social action-express a singular view of cosmopolitical relations, how they inform and shape forest-city interactions, and the history of how they came into existence. Featuring analysis from historical, ethnological, and philosophical perspectives, contributors seek to explain the imaginaries' widespread diffusion, as well as their influence in present-day migration and urbanization. Above all, it underscores how these urban imaginaries allow Indigenous Amazonians to express their concerns about power, alterity, domination, and defiance. Contributors Natalia Buitron Philippe Erikson Emanuele Fabiano Fabiana Maizza Daniela Peluso Fernando Santos-Granero Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen Robin M. Wright

The worldwide concern with deforestation of Brazilian Amazonia is partly motivated by the perception that it is a destructive process in which the social and economics gains are smaller than the environmental losses. The perception also underlies the diagnostic, formulation and evaluation of public policies proposed by government and non-governmental organizations working in the region, including the World Bank. Causes of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon studies the role of cattle ranching – its dynamic and profitability – in the expansion of deforestation. It provides a social evaluation of deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia by, on one hand, identifying the main agents involved in the process, the economic motives behind their activities and their possible economic returns and, on the other hand, by undertaking a monetary evaluation of the economic (social) costs of deforestation while making some comparisons with sustainable forest management. The title presents and compares a number of different scenarios and proposed recommendations for the region.