The Political Ecology of Genetically Modified Soy in Argentina

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2014 Roundup Ready Nation: The Political Ecology Of Genetically Modified Soy In Argentina Amalia Leguizamon Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/61 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] ROUNDUP READY NATION: THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED SOY IN ARGENTINA by AMALIA LEGUIZAMÓN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 AMALIA LEGUIZAMÓN All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Professor Kenneth A. Gould Date Chair of the Examining Committee Professor Philip Kasinitz Date Executive Officer Professor John L. Hammond Professor William Kornblum Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract ROUNDUP READY NATION: THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED SOY IN ARGENTINA by Amalia Leguizamón Adviser: Professor Kenneth A. Gould This dissertation is a case study of agrarian transformation in an agro-export society, Argentina. I study the process of adoption of the technological package of genetically modified (GM) soy in the Argentine countryside, its socio-ecological consequences, and Argentines’ responses to it. In particular, this research addresses Argentina’s unique situation of being a developing country that has positively embraced the biotechnology of GM seeds as a key accumulation strategy without the emergence of major contestation against GM soy monocropping. In order to answer the puzzle of quiescence, I look at how power relations structure access to social and environmental goods and bads, as well as at how power relates to the causes of consensus and conflict. From a critical political economy perspective, in this work I contribute to three major areas of substantive research: (1) Technology and socio-environmental change; (2) Natural resource extraction as a model of neoliberal socioeconomic development for Latin America; and (3) Social movements, in particular rural and environmental movements in the Latin American region. It terms of data collection, I rely on a multi-method approach based on archival research, quantitative analysis, and ethnographic methods (interviewing and participant observation). iv Whether GM crops can alleviate poverty and address food security while conserving ecosystems remains one of the most divisive questions in contemporary development studies. This dissertation is thus a necessary and timely contribution to debates on agricultural GM biotechnology. More broadly, the aim of this research is to contribute to discussions around the dynamics of agrarian and rural transformations, technological adoption and resistance, and the relationship between ecological modification and social change. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of so many I can barely name a few here, but there are so many more! Thanks to you all from the bottom of my heart! ¡Muchas gracias de todo corazón! First and foremost, thanks to my dissertation chair and advisor, Ken Gould. From the very beginning to the very end, I would not have been able to accomplish this without your help and advice. Thank you for intellectual guidance and moral support! Deep thanks also to my dissertation committee, Jack Hammond and Bill Kornblum, for your knowledge and support throughout dissertation work and all throughout grad school, since my first year. Thanks to the Graduate Center and the City University of New York for funding every aspect of my grad school experience, from course work to research to writing. Thanks to PEO International for funding also. Thank you Janet Gornick and the LIS team and Sylvie Richards and everyone at the School of Professional Studies, it was work but it was fun! Deep, deep thanks to the people on the field who so kindly and lovingly opened their homes to me and answered all my questions, no matter how basic or annoying. I use pseudonyms in this dissertation but I'm sure you can recognize yourself in these pages: To "Leo" and his sweet family, to "Mari", who's missed, and her family, to "Carlos" and wife, to "Antonio", to the members of the environmental assembly in La Leonesa and from Paren de Fumigar in Córdoba and Santa Fe, to those to who make up MOCASE-VC and Poriajhú in Chaco, and so many others who I met on the road. Thanks as well to Norma Giarracca and Miguel Teubal from the University of Buenos Aires, to Mauricio Berger and Cecilia Carrizo from the University of vi Córdoba, and to Cecilia Canevari from the University of Santiago del Estero. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge with me and trusting that I could do something useful with it. Thanks to my yoga teachers for introducing me to the sacred practice of yoga: Julianna Takacs, Leigh Evans, Summer Quashie, and Tobias Fields. Thank you for teaching me the tools to ride this emotional rollercoaster that is dissertation writing (and life!). Thanks to you, to my Yoga Teacher Training buddies at Greenhouse Holistic, and to my therapist Marjorie Schwartz for bearing with me in the last stage of this dissertation and helping me make it to the end. To my friends in New York City: you have been my family away from home. In all the ups and downs and in-betweens, thank you for being there and making my life better: Pilar Ortiz, Amanda Riesman, Laura Limonic, Yolanda Martín, Gabriela Alvarez, Francesca Orselli, Antonia Levy, Álvaro Castillo, Sebastián Thompson, Hans Sachs, and Alberto Munarriz. My friends back home, who over the distance and over breaks also gave me insight, love, and support: Silvina Soria, Marcos Asensio, Virginia Guerstein, Luciana Ferraro, Mariana Severini, Laura Lezcano, Adriana Llinares, and Luis Sagasti. To Pedro, thank you, as without you New York wouldn't have been an option. And to Diego, gracias: I've learned from you, and despite all it was worth it. Last but certainly not least, thanks to my family, for your support and encouragement all along and every step of the way: my parents, Osvaldo Leguizamón and Mirta Quattrocchio, my brother, Julián Leguizamón, my sister, Jorgelina Leguizamón, my sister-in-law, Romina Giménez, Valentín Jasinowski, my nephew, and Maitena Leguizamón, my niece, my aunts and cousins, and my grandparents, who are always somewhere around. With love and gratitude, I dedicate this dissertation to my parents. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables ....................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 A Massive Agrarian Transformation ................................................................................ 3 1.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................................ 5 Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 5 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 HOW THIS DISSERTATION IS STRUCTURED ................................................... 9 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................... 10 2.1 TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE .......................... 10 Agriculture as a Technique, Agrarian Revolutions ......................................................... 15 GM Biotechnology, Third Agricultural Revolution ....................................................... 16 2.2 THE AGRO-INDUSTRY & THE GLOBALIZATION PROJECT ........................ 20 Non-Traditional Agro-Export Production in Latin America .......................................... 23 2.3 MAIN ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST GMOS ............................................ 27 Arguments in Favor of GM Biotechnology .................................................................... 28 Arguments Against GM Biotechnology ......................................................................... 29 A Short Discussion on These Two Perspectives ............................................................. 32 2.4 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, QUIESCENCE, POWER .............................................. 33 Resistance and Mobilization Against GMOs .................................................................. 34 Social Movement Theory and Quiescence: Why Do Movements Emerge, Why Do They Fail to Emerge? ..................................... 38 Quiescence and Power: The Missing Link in Social Movement and Collective Action Theory ......................... 43 One Last Note on Quiescence ......................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 3. GM SOY IN ARGENTINA ......................................................................

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