12-U1D1 - Discuss examples of cultural boundaries the participants in this project might have faced. Include one additional example of an issue related to cultural boundaries you encountered.

FORDLANDIA: OVERVIEW

CASE STUDY In the late 1920s, Henry Ford established a plantation in Brazil intended to provide rubber for automobiles. In addition to the business need, Ford saw Fordlandia as an opportunity to create a community that reflected his social engineering views.

Fordlandia failed. It did not produce the rubber Ford needed and it did not produce the community he desired.

Using the articles linked here and the case study desks in this and upcoming units, explore the issues associated with Fordlandia and their implications in today's world. Not all the materials are about Fordlandia itself, but instead are intended to help form connections to themes of social hierarchy, class, citizenship rights, and other civic concerns you will need to consider when providing public services in a globalized world.

These articles provide the content of this case study:

• Henry Ford's Tropical Folly • Henry Ford's Amazonian Suburbia • Rubber in Brazil

JOURNAL

July 27, 1926 Ernest Liebold contacted me asking some interesting questions. "Where, in the Americas, should rubber be grown?" He appears to be leaning toward Brazil, which surprised me. It has been my understanding that rubber plantations have not succeeded in Brazil. This is ironic in that it has not been terribly long since Brazil held a monopoly on the production of rubber. I am told they still curse Henry Wickham, the Brit who smuggled 70,000 Hevea brasiliensis seeds out of the country and opened the door to the Asian plantations that are now plaguing Mr. Ford and the rest of the American automobile industry.

May 13, 1927 Earlier this year, Mr. Ford sent Mr. Carl D. Larue, a botanist from the University of Michigan, to survey the area for a suitable site on which to plant rubber. LaRue's report confirms that the tract of land suggested by Villares is the best site for our venture. His report also describes the working conditions and a more hellish environment can not be imagined. The people of the Amazon are described as living in squalid conditions with a myriad of health concerns. Mr. Ford has long been concerned with worker health not only because of industrial efficiency, but also because of his desire that industrialization improve living conditions.

P r i n t C r e d i t s

January 21, 1928 Yet another misstep on this venture. Apparently the rainy season, which starts in November and extends a good five to six months from there, was not considered when the plans to clear land for the plantation were made. The jungle is a dense and ruthless entity and clearing it is a daunting and dangerous task. Just this week, three men have been fatally struck by vipers and the infirmary is full of men suffering from malaria. Unfortunately, quinine is not so prevalent and the death toll rises daily.

April 7, 1929 Costs continue to plague this operation! We had been promised import- export exemptions by then governor Dionysio Bentes, but these have been revoked in the wake of the land scandal. How the people back at Dearborn were infuriated by these revelations of kickbacks and bribes … we already lost the manager Blakely, who was recalled to Dearborn and then dismissed this last October. The new governor, Valles, has revoked our tax exemptions, which has led to the seizure of twenty four cases of seeds for our rubber trees. On top of that, we are being charged import fees for a host of goods and materials sitting in warehouses in Belém.

December 30, 1929 So the year comes to a close. In what feels like a turning point, we have just completed painting the company logo on the water tower. The town is taking shape, but the cost has been high. Rumors about graft and corruption cannot be quelled and the native workers grow ever more frustrated with Mr. Ford's insistence on imposing American ways on them. They despise the foods he decrees will be supplied and in general, discontent is high. Fights and frustrations are the order of the day.

PHOTO ALBUM After collecting the latex, seringueiros then cured it over a smoky fire, creating the 70 to 80 pound balls that could be sold—or more accuately—traded for goods. This system of trade kept seringueiros indebted to the rubber barons.

Rubber, collected by seringueiros was then transported down river by the rubber dealers for sale to the exporters.

While Ford had originally spoken of giving Brazilian workers the same $5 a day wages as American Ford workers, the workers were instead paid roughly 35¢, which while higher than the prevailing wages, was not what was expected.

Vargas' ascent to power in October 1930 brought an end to many of the struggles Ford and his managers had with the Brazilian government. Specifically, Vargas granted Ford the import export tax exemptions that Ford had long been seeking.

At Ford's second plantation, Belterra, changes in the social structure improved labor relations. The biological problems, however, were another matter.

PLANNED COMMUNITIES Fordlandia was conceived to free the Ford Motor Company from the British rubber cartels, but the concept of planned communities was not unique to Fordlandia. In colonial America, towns often were built from plans drafted in Europe and built in the American wilderness. Examples include Jamestown, Virginia and Philadelphia.

Nor was Fordlandia unique in its status as a "company town." Alcoa, Tennessee, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Hershey, Cuba all are examples of towns built for the workers of a given company. Government entities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the United States Army built several planned communities, such as Oak Ridge, Tennessee, known as "the Secret City," because the workings of the Manhattan Project were tightly guarded secrets.

Some of the most famous planned communities are the Israeli kibbutzim. Life on these settlements was communal in all aspects of life, from shared meals to centralized child care.

Hershey, PA is an important example of planned communities.

• Hershey Link 1 • Hershey Link 2

CABINET MAGAZINE ARTICLE An analysis of Fordlandia from an historical and social perspective.

• Cabinet Article

MAP OF BRAZIL

Zoomed:

Zoomed map of Brazil.

MUSIC

"Fordlandia" by Kate Campbell One day Henry Ford went down Built his very own new town Only one for miles around In the middle of the Amazon Hospitals and factories A quarter-million rubber trees Gonna beat that European squeeze And raise his bottom line

Fordlandia still standing there In the jungle air In the middle of nowhere Some dreams die hard Some notions are Like the city of Fordlandia

A church, a school and a butcher shop But they never got a single crop

The whole thing was a giant flop From the day he thought it up How could anybody know You can't plant rubber trees in a row They need a little space to grow If your gonna send some tires back home

Fordlandia still standing there In the jungle air In the middle of nowhere Some dreams die hard Some notions are Like the city of Fordlandia

Speaking now in Ford's defense Sometimes things make perfect sense The best laid plans of mice and men Will often go astray All of history's greatest minds Dared to lay it on the line They came up short a couple of times Before they made the Model T

Fordlandia still standing there In the jungle air In the middle of nowhere Some dreams die hard Some notions are Like the city of Fordlandia

CREDITS Subject Matter Expert: Interactive Design:

Instructional Designer:

Project Manager:

Music Talent:

Image Credits:

Yvonne Kochanowski

Jay Austin

Felicity Pearson

Kyle Huppert

Campbell, Kate. (2009). Fordlandia. On Save the day [CD]. Nashville, TN: Large River Music.

Staff/AFP/Getty Images; © iStockPhoto.com/Scott Fichter; © iStockPhoto.com/DNY59; © iStockPhoto.com/Stefan Klein; © iStockPhoto.com/Pali Rao; © iStockPhoto.com/Ben Phillips; © iStockPhoto.com/Jussi Santaniemi; © iStockPhoto.com/Keith Webber Jr.; © iStockPhoto.com/Jan Tyler; Burnett, D. Graham & Turner, Christopher (Eds.). Cabinet Magazine; Library of Congress Geography and Map Division; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division;

L i c e n s e d u n d e r a C r e a t i v e C o m m o n s A t t r i b u t i o n 3 . 0 L i c e n s e .