Land to the tiller? Agroecology and the blueprint of dispossession and resistance at the agricultural frontier in Argentina
by Jonas Adriaensens, Joost Dessein. and Jeroen Adam
Abstract
Agroecology has quickly become a buzzword in academia and we argue that scholarship is divided between a narrow, technical approach and a broader approach that considers the societal structures that help shape it. We aim to place agroecology firmly in its sociohistorical context and consider the issue of land crucial to understand how agroecology is used as a political tool for emancipation. We conducted ethnographic research into the issue of land in Santiago del Estero, a province in Argentina that is characterized by the encounter of different models of agriculture. Our paper is based on three main arguments: 1) the struggle for agroecology is intimately connected to the struggle for land; 2) these struggles are often violent on a physical, psychological and symbolic level; and 3) the question of agroecology is consequently a question of agency and empowerment.
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