Monday, March 13, 2023- Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México
Inequality in the distribution of land in Latin America and the Caribbean is a phenomenon with a long historical trajectory from the beginning of the European conquest to the present. The high concentration of land ownership in the hands of a few individuals and families has made it the region with the most unequal distribution of land worldwide. Since the 1980s, new dynamics of (re)production of wealth through land based on agroindustry and neo-extractivist policies have accelerated land grabbing and concentration. A similar situation of conversion of land into capital occurred at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century when the accelerated integration of Latin American countries into the global economy, the high production of haciendas and plantations encouraged the emergence of new landholding elites.
With this conference we want to compare two junctures in the history of Latin America on which the concentration of land in the hands of landed elites has been based: from 1860 to the World Economic Crisis of 1929 and the period between the 1980s and the 2020. These two junctures have been called in Latin American historiography as the second and third conquest. We propose to discuss the economic dimension of the reproduction of wealth in its interaction with cultural and social values and practices (habitus), the links with the political system and the impact on the transformation of landscapes and ecosystems. Inspired by the Bordieu perspective of the conversion of different types of capital (economic, cultural, symbolic, social, political, etc.), the conference is organized around three thematic axes and a transversal axis:
In political constellations we analyze multiple relationships between landed elites and political institutions, as well as the forms of political legitimation of hyper-wealth. How were and are the economic and political elites interconnected? In what local, regional and global contexts have landed elites (not only individuals but also companies) operated and how were they legitimized by the respective actors? When can we talk about state capture? How does political delegitimization operate?
In cultures of wealth we explore cultural and social aspects of the representation, justification and legitimation of an unequal distribution of land. How have traditional notions of land ownership contributed to legitimizing and stabilizing inequality? How have aristocratic values influenced the landowning elite's access to economic or political resources? To what extent have entrepreneurial values affected traditional aristocratic lifestyles linked to land ownership?
In ecological transformations of landscapes, we analyze the material and imaginary impacts of land grabbing and concentration. What are the ecological impacts in relation to species extinction, neophytes, deforestation, erosion, climate change? How are ecological costs legitimized?
Finally, peasant and indigenous communities have disputed access to land and common goods in both situations. As a transversal axis in Subaltern Strategies we analyze the change in the use of collective lands and new ruralities as a consequence of land grabbing and concentration. What strategies have rural and semi-urban communities used to maintain their access to land in contexts of inequality? What new ruralities and forms of resistance have emerged?
9:45
Inauguración y bienvenida
Dr. Alberto Castañón Herrera, Secretario de Investigación y Posgrado de la Facultad de Economía-BUAP
Dra. María Isabel Angoa Pérez, Coordinadora DIESS-BUAP.10:00
Presentación programa conferencia
Prof. Mariano E. Torres Bautista (BUAP)
10:15
Presentación proyecto
Transformando la tierra en capital: Coyunturas históricas de la (re)producción de la riqueza y acumulación de la tierra en América Latina: 1860-1930 y 1980 -2020
Prof. Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier (Universidad de Bielefeld)
Prof. Dr. Christian Büschges (Universidad de Bern)
Prof. María Fernanda López Subdirectora académica (FLACSO. Sede Ecuador).10:30
Panel 1: Constelaciones políticas
Neoliberalização da natureza na fronteira agrícola
Prof. Valter Lúcio de Oliveira (Universidade Federal Fluminense)Élites económicas y poder político en Argentina y Brasil. Continuidades y transformaciones entre la década neoliberal (1989-1999) y el siglo XXI (2015-2019)
Roberto Cassaglia (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)Territorialización, control y acaparamiento de tierras para la implementación de un modelo agroindustrial en la Altillanura colombiana
Paula Jimena Ñáñez Ortíz (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España)
Laura Calle Alzate (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España)Moderación:Dra. Melina Teubner (Universidad de Bern, Suiza)
12:15
Panel 2: Culturas de la riqueza
Familia, tierra y linaje. Las bases del poder oligárquico en los Andes centrales (1870-1920)
Grace Nogales (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)La hacienda de Santa Marta y Cartagena vista por viajeros, 1820-1900
Hugues Rafael Sánchez Mejía (Universidad del Valle, Colombia)El origen del Estado finquero en Guatemala, 1870-1940
Sergio Palencia (The City University of New York, Estados Unidos)120 años de una finca cafetalera en el Soconusco, Chiapas: Aspectos políticos, económicos y ecológicos
Prof. Justus Fenner (CIMSUR-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)Moderación:Prof. Dr. Christian Büschges (Universidad de Bern, Suiza)
15:30
Panel 3: Transformaciones ecológicas y del paisaje
Paisajes del despojo en el Caribe Colombiano y la defensa histórica del monte, jagüeyes y manglares
Diana Carolina Ojeda Ojeda (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)El cultivo de la Soya y las estrategias de control de la tierra en las fronteras agropecuarias del Chaco Argentino
Olivia del Giorgio (McGill University, Canadá)Empresarios, riqueza y transformación del paisaje. De la transición energética a la acumulación, algunos ejemplos regionales
Alejandro Tortolero (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México)Moderación:Prof. Adrian G. Zarrilli (Universidad de Quilmes, Argentina)
17:15
Panel 4: Estrategias Subalternas
Dominación y conflicto: justicia territorial en la montaña Matlalcueye, Puebla-Tlaxcala, México
Ernesto Licona Valencia (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México)Las tierras ejidales ante el capital inmobiliario y las políticas públicas: el caso de Azumiatla Puebla
Emma Alicia Canales de la Fuente (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México)Grupos de Ahorro y Préstamo Comunitario, como estrategia de reproducción financiera en zonas urbanas, periurbanas y rurales
Mario Humberto Loaiza (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México)Moderación:Dr. Philipp Wolfesberger (Universidad de Bielefeld, Alemania)
18:15
Conclusiones y discusión final
Dr. María de Lourdes Herrera Feria (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México)
Carolina Hormaza (Universidad de Bielefeld, Alemania)
Comité organizador: Dr. María de Lourdes Herrera, Prof. Mariano E. Torres Bautista (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México) Dr. Melina Teubner, Prof. Dr. Christian Büschges (Universidad de Bern) , Carolina Hormaza, Prof. Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier (Universidad de Bielefeld)