Los conocimientos técnicos de los campesinos : su papel en la elaboración de una teoría sobre el desarrollo tecnológico de la agricultura andina

En réponse aux limites des stratégies de développement basées sur le transfert de technologies agricoles modernes vers le Tiers-Monde, plusieurs organismes ont montré dans les dernières années un plus grand intérèt vers les connaissances agricoles de paysans indigènes. Cet intérèt reflète et nourrit un changement vers des méthodes participatives pour la production de technologies agricoles. Or, les deux approches ont manqué d'un approfondissement dans la théorie sociale.Responding to the shortcomings of development strategies focussing on the transfer of modern agricultural technologies to the Third World peasantry, development institutions have recently shown increased interest in the agricultural knowledge of indigenous farmers. This interest both reflects and has nourished the movement toward participatory methods for the generation of agricultural technologies. Both these foci have, however, been weak in social theory.Respondiendo a las limitaciones de las estrategias de desarrollo que tenian su enfoque en la transferencia de tecnologias modernas agricolas al campesinado del Tercer Mundo, las instituciones de desarrollo han mostrado durante los últimos años más interés en los conocimientos agricolas de los campesinos indigenas. Este interés tanto refleja como nutre el cambio hacia métodos participativos para la generación de tecnologias agricolas. Sin embargo, a ambos enfoques les ha faltado una profundización en la teoria social.En resposta a les limitacions de les estratègies de desenvolupament que tenien l'enfocament a transferir tecnologies agrícoles modernes a la pagesia del Tercer Món, les institucions de desenvolupament han mostrat durant els darrers anys més interès en els coneixements agrícoles dels camperols indígenes. Aquest interès tant reflecteix com nodreix el canvi cap a mètodes participatius per generar tecnologies agricoles. Tanmateix, ambdós enfocaments han mancat d'aprofundiment en la teoria social

Extraction, Territory, and Inequalities: Gas in the Bolivian Chaco

Conflicts over extractive industry have emerged as one of the most visible and potentially explosive terrains for struggles over distribution, territory, and inequality in the Andes. We explore these relationships in Bolivia, focusing on gas extraction in the Chaco region of the southeastern department of Tarija. We consider how the expansion of extractive industry intersects with territorializing projects of state, sub-national elites, and indigenous actors as well as with questions of inequality and inequity. We conclude that arguments over the territorial constitution of Bolivia are inevitably also arguments over gas and the contested concepts of equity underlying its governance. © Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 2010. All rights reserved.This is an original manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Canadian Journal of Development Studies in 2010, available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02255189.2010.966929

Anatomy of a Regional Conflict: Tarija and Resource Grievances in Moraless Bolivia

In 2008, the Department of Tarija became the epicenter of national political struggles over political autonomy for lowland regions at odds with the Morales administration. In September, following a series of regional referenda on autonomy and a national recall election, citizen committees in Tarija mobilized urban-based sectors and organized a general strike against the central government. It is unhelpful to understand the strike as simply an act of political sabotage orchestrated by racist regional elites. The factors driving protest and interest in autonomy are varied and deeply related to patterns of hydrocarbons extraction in the department that have allowed for the mobilization of grievances and the cultivation of resource regionalism at departmental and intradepartmental scales. Alongside class and ethnicity, identities of place and region can be equally important in processes of mobilization, and the resonance of these spatialized identities is particularly important in resource-extraction peripheries. © 2010 Latin American Perspectives. Available download is the accepted version for publication

The Infrastructure-Extractives-Resource Governance Complex in the Pan-Amazon: Roll backs and Contestations

Large-scale access and energy infrastructure projects, together with expanding investments in natural resource extraction, pose significant challenges to biodiversity conservation, forest cover, and the defence of forest peoples\u27 rights and livelihoods across the wider Amazon region. Following a period in which safeguards and forest dwellers\u27 territorial rights were strengthened under more permissive political opportunity structures, the current period has been characterized by efforts to weaken these protections and to facilitate large-scale private investment in previously protected lands. We describe these investment-based threats to forests and rights, and the nature of regulatory rollbacks in the region. We then discuss some of the ways in which social movement actors have responded to these pressures and the extent to which they have affected the policies driving these pressures on forests and rights. While in prior decades movements were able to exercise mediated influence on policy, at present the channels open to them are mostly indirect, though opportunities for collaboration between movements organizations and rights-defending government agencies do emerge periodically offering channels for mediated influence

Conflicts Over Extractivist Policy and the Forest Frontier in Central America

Central America is characterized by an asymmetric forest transition in which net deforestation is a product of both forest loss and patches of forest resurgence. Forest loss is also associated with rights violations. We explore the extent to which extractive industry and infrastructure investments create pressure on forest resources, community rights and livelihoods. Drivers of this investment are identified, in particular: constitutional, legislative and regulatory reforms; energy policies; new financial flows; and ideas of development emphasizing the centrality of infrastructure in combining geographical integration and economic growth. We discuss forms of contentious action that have emerged in response to these pressures, asking how far and in what ways this contention has elicited changes in the policies that govern investment and extractive industry, and how far such changes might reduce pressure on Central America\u27s remaining forest cover. The paper develops a conceptual framework for analysing relationships among contention, policy change and the resilience of policy changes

Research-oriented environment/development NGOs, the public sphere and policy in Central and South America

This three-year project aimed to develop non-profit knowledge generation through research institutes and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) while encompassing civil society and policy making activities. Preparation and course design are reviewed in Annex 1 for year one. During the second year, material was prepared for a book, using case studies as gathered by partner research fellows (Annex report 2). The project's conclusions and insights will reach wider audiences via the book publication “Can NGOs Make A Difference? The Challenge of Development Alternatives.” The project is a collaboration between Manchester U.K. and Central American NGOs. Participant researchers exchanged residencies between the two countries. (In English and Spanish)

Rimisp - Latin American Center for Rural Development : an institutional evaluation

Spanish version available in IDRC Digital Library: Rimisp - Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural : una evaluación institucionalExternal institutional evaluation by RIMISP (a well-known IDRC partner) not funded by IDR

Contention and Ambiguity: Mining and the Possibilities of Development

The last decade and a half has witnessed a dramatic growth in mining activity in many developing countries. This article reviews these recent trends and describes the debates and conflicts they have triggered. The authors review evidence regarding debates on the resource curse and the possibility of an extraction-led pathway to development. They then describe the different types of resistance and social mobilization that have greeted mineral expansion at a range of geographical scales, and consider how far these protests have changed the relationships between mining and political economic change. The conclusions address how far such protests might contribute to an \u27escape\u27 from the resource curse, and consider implications for research and policy agendas. © 2008 Institute of Social Studies. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bebbington, Anthony, et al. Contention and ambiguity: Mining and the possibilities of development. Development and change 39.6 (2008): 887-914, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00517.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited

Investigación y cambio social: desafíos para las ONG en Centroamérica y México

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