A Sacred Plant, a National Myth: What Can Guaraná Reveal About Brazil?

Notas do episódio

In this episode, Marcos Colón speaks with historian Seth Garfield about guaraná, Indigenous science, Amazonian environmental history, and the making of Brazil’s national imagination. The conversation is based on the interview published in HALAC — Historia Ambiental Latinoamericana y Caribeña, titled “A Sacred Plant, a National Myth: Seth Garfield on Guaraná, Indigenous Science, and the Making of Brazil.” Together, Garfield and Colón discuss how guaraná moved from Indigenous worlds into Brazilian national mythology, commodity markets, science, and popular culture. The episode explores how a sacred Amazonian plant can reveal larger histories of Indigenous knowledge, environmental transformation, race, nationalism, and the political uses of nature in Brazil. Published interview: https://www.halacsolcha.org/index.php/halac/article/view/1200/919 DOI: 10.32991/2237-2717.2026v16i2.p639-659