The Soyazation of Argentina : An Actor Network Analysis of the Soya Production in the Argentine Provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero

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2014-09-24
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en
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At present soya, either in the form of oil or meal, is in high demand by fast growing economies like Brazil, China and India. Also the European Union’s (EU) economy accounted for over 10 million tonnes of soya oil in 2012. Most of this demand is met by the three biggest producers of soya, The United States (US), Brazil and Argentina (Nassar & Antoniazzi et. al., 2011, p.6). Because of the multitude of interactions between nonhuman and human actors in the network of soya production in Argentina we need an approach that does look at the interaction between these actors, and doesn’t treat human or nonhuman actors differently. An approach that doesn’t obscure actors and their interrelations by ordering them under dense denominators like “globalization” or belonging to the “local,” “global,” or “Micro-, Meso-, Macro level”. And therefore an approach that keeps us out of the modern ontology of opposing binary positions by positioning the ‘subject’ opposite the ‘object’ or in human geography the ‘human geography’ opposite the ‘physical geography’. This approach is found in Actor Network Theory (ANT) which we will use to study the production of genetically modified soya in the Argentine provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero and in doing so we will “give evidence that “science” and “society” are both explained more adequately by an analysis of the relations among forces and that they become mutually inexplicable and opaque when made to stand apart”.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen