Amazonia in the U.S. wartime imaginary

Abstract

This essay traces the emergence of the Amazon in the United States wartime imaginary. Although the geopolitical importance of diversifying rubber markets and developing synthetics had been discussed in the United States before Pearl Harbor, the subsequent Japanese interdiction of traditional Southeast Asian markets sent American government officials and scientists scurrying to find alternatives. As in other regions of Latin America, wartime procurement policies in the Amazon divided New Deal progressives and fiscal conservatives, but these policies also shaped and were shaped by entrenched myths of tropical regions and populations. Then, as now, the Amazon was more than a place, but also a flashpoint for Americans for deeper anxieties concerning questions of race, class, and nation. © 2009 ANPUH.