University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Sociology Sociology 2012 MAKING BOUNDARIES AND LINKING GLOBALLY: “MATERIAL POLITICS” OF PHYTOSANITARY REGULATION ON MEXICAN MANGOS Kiyohiko Sakamoto University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Sakamoto, Kiyohiko, "MAKING BOUNDARIES AND LINKING GLOBALLY: “MATERIAL POLITICS” OF PHYTOSANITARY REGULATION ON MEXICAN MANGOS" (2012). Theses and Dissertations--Sociology. 7. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/sociology_etds/7 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Sociology by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. 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Kiyohiko Sakamoto, Student Dr. Keiko Tanaka, Major Professor Dr. Shaunna Scott, Director of Graduate Studies MAKING BOUNDARIES AND LINKING GLOBALLY: “MATERIAL POLITICS” OF PHYTOSANITARY REGULATION ON MEXICAN MANGOS DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Kiyohiko Sakamoto Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Keiko Tanaka, Professor of Sociology Lexington, Kentucky 2012 Copyright © Kiyohiko Sakamoto 2012 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION MAKING BOUNDARIES AND LINKING GLOBALLY: “MATERIAL POLITICS” OF PHYTOSANITARY REGULATIOIN ON MEXICAN MANGOS This dissertation illuminates how phytosanitary (PS) regulations enable mango exportation from Mexico to the United States. PS regulations are technical and legal measures to prevent plant pests from proliferating or being transported to other places and are important regulatory mechanisms enabling the globalization of agriculture. My case study investigates how PS regulations enable Mexican mango exportation as an aspect of the globalization of agriculture, illustrating the consequences of PS regulations to humans and non-humans. More specifically, three research questions are posed: (1) How does the PS regulation network operate to draw distinctions between pest/non-pest, thereby enabling the export of Mexican mangos to the United States? (2) What values are associated with the PS regulation network, and what are the normative, moral, or ethical implications of the regulations? And, (3) How are the PS regulations in transition in the state of Sinaloa changing economic prospects for mango growers and packers to tap into global mango markets? Theoretically, the analysis draws on a concept called “material politics,” which claims that politics is enacted through not only discursive measures, such as statutes, but also physical embodiment by material beings. Thus, PS regulations are conceptualized as a materially heterogeneous network that establishes boundaries between pest/non-pest, thereby connecting distinct places, such as mango orchards and consumers. The material politics concept also suggests the emergence of socio-material “ordering” effects by regulations, such as values, morals, and norms, as well as unequal economic opportunities. Nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico, which employed in-depth interviews, (participant) observations, and documentary research, yielded the following findings: (1) PS regulations as a network of governance (re)configured the production of the commodity, “disciplining” humans and non-humans to conform to the global regulatory order; (2) in this network, non-governmental entities played critical roles, fitting squarely with the recent neoliberal political-economic orientation in Mexico; and (3) although the government’s pest eradication program could improve market chances for growers, local political-economic circumstances, including small-scale growers’ dependence on packers for marketing, still left substantial challenges for such economic prospects to materialize. KEYWORDS: Phytosanitary regulation, Mango, Mexico, Material Politics, Globalization of agriculture Kiyohiko Sakamoto Student’s Signature February 24, 2012 Date MAKING BOUNDARIES AND LINKING GLOBALLY: “MATERIAL POLITICS” OF PHYTOSANITARY REGULATIOIN ON MEXICAN MANGOS By Kiyohiko Sakamoto Keiko Tanaka, Ph.D Director of Dissertation Shaunna Scott, Ph.D Director of Graduate Studies I dedicate this dissertation to my father, Akihiro Sakamoto (February 16, 1942 - July 4, 2008) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. First of all, the members of my dissertation advisory committee, Dr. Keiko Tanaka, Dr. Patrick Mooney, Dr. Larry Burmeister, and Dr. John Obrycki, have never stopped providing me with generous and patient support. My special thanks should be dedicated to Keiko, my advisory chair, who has been, despite my arrogant and stubborn attitude, the most consistent supporter and mentor throughout my academic endeavors, and who has also, like a “big sister” and a great friend, offered generous support and diversion in my personal life as well. Also, since the very beginning of my academic life as a Master’s student, Pat and Larry have always been great supporters and friends without whom I would not have considered studying for the doctorate degree. In addition, I would like to mention Dr. Shaunna Scott and Dr. Thomas Janoski who served as the Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of Sociology and provided me with continuous support to accomplish my academic goal. This research owes a lot to all the people who generously and kindly helped me survive and do fieldwork in Mexico, whether by sparing considerable time for interviews with me despite their busy schedules, allowing me to observe their jobs, or inviting me to have a cold refreshing soda. While everyone I met and became friends with during the fieldwork was incredibly accommodating, accepting me with great hospitality and deserving my thanks, I would like to mention a few individuals who provided me with crucially important assistance for the research, including Dr. Florencio Posada, Dr. Alonso Bajo, and Dr. Carlos Maya-Ambía, of the Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales at the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mexico. Also, I am thankful to Mr. Martín Montoya Leyva of Comité Estatal de Sanidad Vegetal del Estado de Sinaloa (CESAVESIN), for accommodating access to the organization’s on-site activities, without which I could have never grasped what the real operation of the regulations looks like. Although I cannot disclose identities, I owe my fruitful experiences in the fieldwork to many other individuals, including personnel of iv CESAVESIN, managers and workers of packinghouses, representatives of mango grower organizations, government officials, and investigators at research institutes. Moreover, I will never forget the excitement and gratitude I felt when I heard that the Matsushita International Foundation decided to award me a generous research grant, without which I would not have been able to collect the rich data from my fieldwork. Also, I want to direct my gratitude to the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky for the Dissertation Enhancement Award and Presidential Fellowship to support my fieldwork and completion of the dissertation. My fellow graduate students and a few faculty members at the University also deserve my special thanks. During my unexpectedly prolonged graduate program, many friends and colleagues, sharing the fun as well as the pain of being graduate students, encouraged and motivated me to keep striving to complete the program. There are so many fellow students who are my precious friends that I cannot count and list everyone here, but to a few of them I am especially grateful, including Dr. Taro Futamura, who is an incredibly pleasant and supportive person; Dr. Nicole Breazeale, who demonstrated continuous friendship and support to me and my wife; Chris Stapel, Jess Kropczynski, John Johnson, and Amanda Konkle, to whom I am indebted not only for their friendship