Amazon studies: online experimentation during covid-19 pandemic
Embracing uncertainty would not be a more appropriate topic for the times in which we live. Facing with the coronavirus pandemic, which in Brazil has killed more than 3,800 people a day (March 30, 2021), the topic of the discussion that we bring to this conference may present important discoveries made by undergraduate students at the University of Brasília. Studying the Amazon in this context, within the Scientific Initiation Program - PIBIC / CNPq, students have in scientific research, ways to understand the reality that surrounds us, bringing a direction to the difficult moments experienced by the Brazilian academic community.
Amazon studies: online experimentation during covid-19 pandemic
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic surprised everyone. It was from then on that several changes began in the collective context: isolation and social distance, compulsory distance education, questioning about our rights and duties, the increased use of social networks and the death of thousands of people, including members of our families and friends. Coronavirus brought pain and challenges to people from different parts of the world affected by its consequences. In Brazil, the devastation has been even worse as we turn our attention to poor and indigenous population.
Despite science and universities research, the solidarity of health workers, doctors engagement in the treatment and the cure of Covid-19 towards people living in isolated areas, this aid was insufficient. In the interior regions of Brazil, especially in the Amazon, the spread of the virus was rapid and victimized the already fragile Brazilian indigenous communities. The lack of oxygen that killed thousands of lives in Manaus (AM) showed the inefficiency of Brazilian public health government.
At the early beginning of social isolation, a completely changed global scenario pressed universities to suspend its face-to-face academic activities for at least five months, which still impacts our learning process. However, research continued both in health and in several other areas, including Communication. Given this perspective, it was urgent and growing the need for new mechanisms and platforms for education, research and experimentation.
Facing this perspective, this article, which was developed by students from the University of Brasilia-UnB, intends to share the research and experimentation process about Amazonian remotely studies during the years 2020 ‐ 2021. In spite of being a research in the area of Communication, textual and manual productions, such as graphic, audiovisual and textual, it has crossed the fields of Art, Design and Anthropology.
The creative process presented in this article is part of the research group “Amazon: graphic visuality, poetic and imaginary”, that integrates the Post Graduate Program in Design/Art Institute/University of Brasília. Since 2016, the project has created opportunities for students from different areas of knowledge, to experience and study the Amazon, through the Scientific Initiation Program-PIBIC/CNPq. The project has been developed in the regions of Pará: Santarém, Alter do Chão, Belterra and Bragança. Before, during and after the expeditions, students produce artwork and research related to the experiences in the Amazon Forest, on the Tapajós River, and in the Munduruku indigenous community of Bragança/Marituba.
The process took place through an online platform for integration and creation. Thus, it was observed how this experience enabled the expansion of horizons in the phase of changes in forms of study and research. The experiment on the platform shortened distances, facilitated the exchange of learning, without interfering with creative possibilities, and, finally, helped in the production of fundamental knowledge about this population and this environment constantly forgotten in Brazilian society.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic surprised everyone. It was from then on that several changes began in the collective context: isolation and social distance, compulsory distance education, questioning about our rights and duties, the increased use of social networks and the death of thousands of people, including members of our families and friends. Coronavirus brought pain and challenges to people from different parts of the world affected by its consequences. In Brazil, the devastation has been even worse as we turn our attention to poor and indigenous population.
Despite science and universities research, the solidarity of health workers, doctors engagement in the treatment and the cure of Covid-19 towards people living in isolated areas, this aid was insufficient. In the interior regions of Brazil, especially in the Amazon, the spread of the virus was rapid and victimized the already fragile Brazilian indigenous communities. The lack of oxygen that killed thousands of lives in Manaus (AM) showed the inefficiency of Brazilian public health government.
At the early beginning of social isolation, a completely changed global scenario pressed universities to suspend its face-to-face academic activities for at least five months, which still impacts our learning process. However, research continued both in health and in several other areas, including Communication. Given this perspective, it was urgent and growing the need for new mechanisms and platforms for education, research and experimentation.
Facing this perspective, this article, which was developed by students from the University of Brasilia-UnB, intends to share the research and experimentation process about Amazonian remotely studies during the years 2020 ‐ 2021. In spite of being a research in the area of Communication, textual and manual productions, such as graphic, audiovisual and textual, it has crossed the fields of Art, Design and Anthropology.
The creative process presented in this article is part of the research group “Amazon: graphic visuality, poetic and imaginary”, that integrates the Post Graduate Program in Design/Art Institute/University of Brasília. Since 2016, the project has created opportunities for students from different areas of knowledge, to experience and study the Amazon, through the Scientific Initiation Program-PIBIC/CNPq. The project has been developed in the regions of Pará: Santarém, Alter do Chão, Belterra and Bragança. Before, during and after the expeditions, students produce artwork and research related to the experiences in the Amazon Forest, on the Tapajós River, and in the Munduruku indigenous community of Bragança/Marituba.
The process took place through an online platform for integration and creation. Thus, it was observed how this experience enabled the expansion of horizons in the phase of changes in forms of study and research. The experiment on the platform shortened distances, facilitated the exchange of learning, without interfering with creative possibilities, and, finally, helped in the production of fundamental knowledge about this population and this environment constantly forgotten in Brazilian society.