Abstract

FONSECA-FLORES, María de los Angeles; GARCIA-GARCIA, Antonino; MARQUEZ-ROSANO, Conrado  and  PARRA-VAZQUEZ, Manuel Roberto. The Actor-network Theory: A tool for Understanding Local Corn Conservation in the Frailesca region, Chiapas, Mexico. Cienc. Tecnol. Agropecuaria [online]. 2023, vol.24, n.3, e3206.  Epub Sep 30, 2023. ISSN 0122-8706.  https://doi.org/10.21930/rcta.vol24_num3_art:3206.

The conservation of local maize (CLM) in the Frailesca region, Chiapas, Mexico interacts with a growing technological materiality. However, there are scarced studies to understand the dynamics of socio-material networks that shape it. Therefore, the objective of this research is to assess the potential of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to understand the socio-technical complexity of the CLM. Based on its methodological perspective, "following the actors", 33 interviews were conducted with farmers who conserve local corn in three ejidos in the region to describe and understand, based on their explanations, the connections and mediations between diverse entities. The result demonstrates the potential of the ANT to value the socio-technical complexity of the CLM given through associations and reassociations in conservation practice. In particular, with technical objects, which together with other entities of any nature influence the stability of the CLM in the face of growing tensions to preserve the basis of peasant subsistence. It is thus concluded that the socio-technical analysis of the CLM contributes to the understanding of its transformations and displacements in a region impacted by agricultural modernization. In addition, it is necessary to deepen the usefulness of the ANT to propose heterogeneous configurations of humans and non-humans in favor of the sustainability of the CLM.

Keywords : In situ conservation; landraces; transformation; small farmers; technological change.

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