03722nab a2200229 i 4500003000900000005001700009008004100026040001800067072000800085100003700093245008600130500005600216520285700272650001503129650002203144650003203166650001303198773017603211856007803387942000803465999001903473BR-BrBNA20251113174146.0251113b2022    bl.ar|pooa||| 00| 0 eng |  aBR-BrBNAbeng  aB50  aDomingues, Heloisa Maria Bertol   aJoão Barbosa Rodrigues and “Queen Rubber”: An innovative scientific culture  aPublicação on-line; 27 ref.; Summaries (En, Pt)  a

Abstract

This work presents the history of rubber in the Amazon based on an article by João Barbosa Rodrigues. In his text,
he emphasized the age of the traditional knowledge used by the native populations in the Americas to produce the
various objects made from rubber. He showed how European scientists based their studies on that knowledge to
understand rubber and expand its use. In his analysis of the exploitative production process that was introduced
in the Amazon region, Barbosa Rodrigues presented the indigenous production methods, which have never been
surpassed. He contrasted them with the social degradation to which those native populations were submitted, as
well as the damage done to the environment, which the native populations had previously preserved. He concluded
that far from being a mere condemnation of the violent process of colonization, his work was designed to promote
continued rubber development. He defended cultivation in line with ecological principles that would preserve the
environment, while also allowing those who held knowledge of sustainable production processes, as they are now
called, to return to their self-supporting lifestyles. Barbosa Rodrigues proposed a new, and previously unknown
scientific culture for development in regard to societal organization and production of wealth. 

Key words: Amazon, Barbosa Rodrigues, environmental preservation, rubber, traditional knowledge.


Resumo

Este trabalho, apresenta uma história da borracha na Amazônia, partindo de um artigo de João Barbosa Rodrigues
sobre o tema. No texto, ele chamou a atenção para a antiguidade da tradição dos conhecimentos sobre a produção
de diversos objetos de borracha, feitos pelos índios da América. Mostrou o quanto a ciência europeia pautou-se
naqueles conhecimentos para entender a borracha e expandir o seu uso. Ao analisar o processo exploratório
introduzido na Amazônia, Barbosa Rodrigues discutiu os modos de produção do índios – nunca superados –
contraposto à degradação social a que foram submetidas aquelas populações e a natureza, que até então haviam
sabido preservar. Conclui-se que o seu trabalho, longe de ser uma mera acusação ao modo violento do processo
colonizador, foi um projeto para continuar explorando a borracha, prevendo o seu cultivo agrícola, sob princípios
ecológicos que preservassem o meio e, ao mesmo tempo, devolvessem a vida autônoma aos detentores dos
conhecimentos de um processo produtivo sustentável, como se diz hoje. Barbosa Rodrigues propôs uma nova e,
então, inédita cultura científica para exploração do meio relativa à organização da sociedade e à produção da riqueza. 

Palavras-chave: Amazônia, Barbosa Rodrigues, preservação do meio, borracha, conhecimentos tradicionais.  aAMAZÔNIA  aBARBOSA RODRIGUES  aPRESERVAÇÃO DA NATUREZA  aBORRACHA0 07099357916dRio de Janeiro-RJ Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro 1935o2025-5881tRodriguésia (Brazil)x0370-6583; 2175-7860 on-linegv. 73 p. 1-12; (2022)wBR2025004418  uhttps://www.scielo.br/j/rod/a/fjxJN6fdsg7MGMDqqPnPhTG/?format=pdf&lang=en  cANA  c339057d339057