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Rural schools and agribusiness in Argentina. Senses and practices of rural teachers around agrochemical spraying in school contexts

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Abstract

This article ethnographically analyses the phenomenon of agrochemical spraying in rural school contexts of the Argentine Humid Pampas. The analysis is guided by a Gramscian approach and is based on fieldwork carried out in the southeastern region of the province of Córdoba (Argentina). On analyzing the daily experiences of these teachers with pesticide spraying not only the conditions of the hegemonic landscape in which they work become evident but also their active positioning in relation to the problem. These positions are expressed through heterogeneous, disjointed, and even contradictory practices and senses, but in which it is possible to identify the plots of the broader social dispute around the problem of intensive agrochemical use.

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Notes

  1. After submitting the request for authorisation to the Board of Primary Education of the provincial Ministry of Education, I received a reply that they could not issue an opinion on the matter and that it was the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock that should authorise my research. I did not pursue the procedure through this new Ministry as I considered it ethically questionable: the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock does not officially represent any authority responsible for schools, teachers, and/or students.

  2. In June 2012, a pioneering trial began in the provincial courts in which farmers were charged for the first time for the spraying of agrochemicals on the population of the Ituzaingó Anexo neighbourhood. In this trial, which acquired international renown, the high levels of leukaemia, other types of cancer, lupus, hypo and hyperthyroidism, miscarriages, and various illnesses that affect the populations living near the transgenic crop fields were shown for the first time in court.

  3. La Red Federal de Docentes por la Vida se conformó en el año 2017 y nuclea a “docentes, padres, vecinos y trabajadores de escuelas rurales fumigadas de diferentes provincias de Argentina [que trabajan] en defensa de los derechos vulnerados de las comunidades educativas rurales afectadas por el actual modelo productivo basado en el uso de transgénicos y agrotóxicos” (Red Federal de Docentes por la Vida: https://docentesporlavida.org/quienes-somos).

  4. The Monsanto Tribunal took place in 2016-2017 in the Hague. Five judges delivered a legal opinion and concluded that Monsanto’s (now, Bayer) activities have a negative impact on basic human rights and that better regulations are needed to protect the victims of multinational corporations (The Monsanto Tribunal: https://en.monsantotribunal.org/).

  5. The social impact caused by this article was so overwhelming that the Córdoba newspaper ended up removing the publication from its website. At the same time, the Provincial Tumour Registry ceased to disaggregate epidemiological information by department. A reproduction of this map can still be found in Fernando Barri (2014). A reconstruction of the controversies surrounding the “Cancer Map” can be found in Fernanda Sández (2019).

  6. Susana refers to the “Cancer Map” mentioned in the previous section. Although this map has been removed from the web, it is still remembered by those who, like Susana, once “saw” it.

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Acknowledgements

To Silvia Barbuzza for her patient and dedicated work in the translation of this article; to Marina Espoturno for her contributions on the process of agriculturisation in the Humid Pampas; to Élida Gigli, Hugo Soul, and Betty Espoturno for hosting me during the fieldwork; and to Ernesto Inouye for introducing me to the work of E. F. Knight.

Funding

This work was made possible thanks to a grant from the National Cancer Institute and the support of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research of the Argentine Republic.

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  1. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia/CONICET-UNRaf, Boulevard Roca 989, CP: 2300, Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina

    Lucía Caisso

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Caisso, L. Rural schools and agribusiness in Argentina. Senses and practices of rural teachers around agrochemical spraying in school contexts. Dialect Anthropol 47, 231–252 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-022-09675-4

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