An Actor-Network Theorization of 150 Years of French Trufficulture" (2018)
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-27-2018 Trufflesa H ve Never Been Modern: An Actor- Network Theorization of 150 Years of French Trufficulture Eric Van Vleet Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC006559 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the European History Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Human Geography Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, Remote Sensing Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Van Vleet, Eric, "Truffles Have Never Been Modern: An Actor-Network Theorization of 150 Years of French Trufficulture" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3679. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3679 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida TRUFFLES HAVE HEVER BEEN MODERN: AN ACTOR-NE TWORK THEORIZATION OF 150 YEARS OF FR ENCH TRUFFICULTURE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL & SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by Eric Van Vleet To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation written by Eric Van Vleet, and entitled Truffles Have Never Been Modern: An Actor-Network Theory Description of 150 Years of French Trufficulture, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ______________________________ Terrance Peterson ______________________________ Benjamin Smith ______________________________ Roderick Neumann ______________________________ Gail Hollander, Major Professor Date of Defense: January 18, 2018 The dissertation of Eric Van Vleet is approved ______________________________ Dean John F. Stack, Jr School of International and Public Affairs ______________________________ A ndr és G. Gil Vice President for Resea rch and Econ om ic Devel opment and D ea n of the U nive rsit y Gra du ate School Florida International University, 2018 ii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION TRUFFLES HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN: AN ACTOR-NETWORK THEORIZATION OF 150 YEARS OF FRENCH TRUFFICULTURE by Eric Van Vleet Florida International University, 2018 Miami, Florida Professor Gail Hollander, Major Professor Contemporary scholars seeking to increase Tuber Melanosporum tru ffle production rely almost exclusively on technological advancements to increase yields, while failing to place the cultivation of truffles, trufficulture, in its historical or local landscape contexts. In this dissertation, I describe how truffle scholars’ conceptualization of trufficulture and landscapes has changed over 150 years in France, while focusing on the French département of Lot. I examine changing relations between humans and nonhumans and how they impact truffle harvests. I analyzed the history of French trufficulture through a close reading of historic truffle manuals, archival research and the classification of remotely sensed images. Shifting from the past to the present, f rom July 2014-August 2016, I conducted semi-structured survey interviews with working truffle- growers (trufficulteurs) and participant observation at meetings of trufficulteurs, truffle hunts and truffle markets. I utilize actor-network theory (ANT) as both a theory and methodology. Actor-network theory allowed me to follow the impacts made by both humans and nonhumans on trufficulture. I found that truffle harvests in the 1880s dropped by 90%. Highly populated, intensively worked landscapes of viticulture, iii silvopastoralism and cereal cultivation created conditions suitable to truffles. By the 1870s the phylloxera aphid ravaged grapevines, which made trufficulture an important source of revenue. These advantageous conditions would not last. Post-W WI, yields fell for decades because of an ongoing rural population exodus a nd consequent agricultural abandonment, which pr omoted reforestation and closed canopy forests in Lot, France. By the 1960s, French trufficulteurs org anized associations to share knowledge and promote local truffle markets to revive production. Trufficulteurs ’ utilization of tractors, ino culated plants and irrigation systems produced a new form of modern trufficulture. State subsidies helped trufficulteurs adopt modern practices, in hopes of increasing yields. Modern trufficulture ha s not dramatically increased yields. A few highly- capitalized trufficulteurs dominate production in Lot. M any others practice trufficulture as a hobby. Instead of relying on modern technological fixes, my findin gs suggest that trufficulteurs, farmers and states shou ld reinvigorate extensive polyculture farming practices that maintain open canopy forests, which were beneficial to trufficulture in the past. Actor-network theory allowed me to rethink human and nonhuman relations, and to propose alternatives to modern trufficulture. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Chapter 1: Dissertation Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Dissertation Objectives 4 Topic and Research Site Selection 6 An Introduction to Truffle Ecology 9 Overview of Fieldwork 15 Research Methodology 19 Participant Observation 19 Semi-Structured Survey Interviews 20 Archival Research 25 Remote Sensing 31 Dissertation Organization 35 Chapter 2: Examining ANT’s Theoretical and Methodological Strengths 39 Chapter Overview 39 Introducing ANT 39 Common Critiques of ANT 41 Describing ANT’s Fundamental Sensibilities 43 Relational Effects 44 Human and Nonhuman Actants 44 Actor-Networks 48 Materiality 50 Stability and Instability in Actor-Network 51 The Local Versus the Global 53 Power in Actor-Networks 54 Symmetry of Actants and Outcomes 56 ANT as Method 58 Where, When and How to Begin Describing Actor-Networks? 61 How to Follow Both Humans and Nonhumans? 65 Vocabulary, Reflexivity and Power in ANT 68 My Treatment of Reflexivity and Power in Truffle Actor-Networks 72 Chapter 3: Lot’s Tumultuous Golden Age of the Truffle 78 Introduction 78 Describing the Département of Lot 78 Lot’s Changing Wine Economy 80 An Overview of Lot’s Agrarian Economy 81 F arming Lot’s Causses 84 “Wine Madness” 85 The Ravages of Phylloxera in Lot 88 The Invention of Trufficulture in Lot in the Wake of Phylloxera 95 Describing the Golden Age of Trufficulture in Lot 100 v The Effects of Sheep and Per Hectare Yields 108 Truffle Markets and Questions of Provenance 114 Discussion 120 Chapter 4: The End of Lot’s Truffle Golden Age: Economic Competition, Agricultural Abandonment, Rural Exodus and Forest Resurgence. 123 Introduction 123 The Beginning of the End of Lot’s High Truffle Production 124 Rural Exodus 129 Lot’s Agricultural Crisis 131 World War 1 Causalities and Birthrates 137 Reforestation 140 Land Cover Change in Classified Aerial Images 144 Chapter 5: The Development of Modern Trufficulture and Its Fluidity in L ot 156 Introduction 156 Inoculated Plants: When Trufficulture Becomes Modern 157 Problems with Inoculated Plants 158 In Situ and Ex Situ Fungal Contamination 160 The Costs of Modern Trufficulture 164 A Changing Truffle and the Loss of Virulence 166 Geneticists’ Understandings of Tuber melanosporum 167 Chemists’ Understanding of T. melanosporum 170 I mplementing Modern Trufficulture in Lot 172 General Description of Trufficulteurs 173 Truffle Ecology 174 The Decline of Truffle Production in Lot 181 The Political Economy of the Truffle 186 Trufficulteurs’ Prognostications 194 Discussion 197 Chapter 6: Discussion 204 Introduction 204 Lot’s Truffle Golden Age 204 The End of the Golden Age 212 The Development of Modern Trufficulture 218 Recommendations for a Nonmodern Trufficulture 226 Broader Implications of ANT as Seen Through Trufficulture 235 Works Cited 244 General Works Cited 244 Archival Works Cited 254 Survey Interviews Cited 257 Appendix 263 VITA 260 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. The Impacts of Phylloxera and Its Remedies in Lot 91 2. Lot’s Truffle Harvests 1901-1920 103 3. Truffle and Forest Mushroom Production in Lot from 1900-1932 105 4. Lost Truffle Revenue from Sheep in the Canton of Martel, Lot 109 5. Hectares of Truffières and Production in 1915 for the Arrondissement of Gourdon 112 6. Limogne Truffle Market 1913-1923 115 7. Hectares of Forest and Field Areas from Cartes de Cassini 146 8 Hectares of Forests and Fields from the L’Etat Major Maps 147 9. Changes in Land Cover from 1948-2000 148 10. Changes in Forest Cover Percentages from Cassini to 2000 149 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Truffle Production in the Arrondissement of Gourdon 126 2. Population Trends in Lot from 1790-2013 130 3. Births vs. Deaths in Lot from 1846-1923 140 4 Classified Communes in Lot, France 145 5. Land Cover Change in Lalbenque 1948-2000 150 viii Chapter 1: Dissertation Introduction Introduction When I began researching French trufficulture for this dissertation in June 2014, I imagined that I would chronicle in as much detail as possible the practices of contemporary trufficulteurs, scientists, plant nurseries technicians and politicians. I wanted to capture trufficulture as it was being practiced in this moment. Lot, France, with its