Dilemmas of enclosure in defense of the land in Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract

The fencing of common use lands has historically served to perpetrate dispossession. The objective of this presentation is to understand the disputes and the generation of meanings and practices of defense of the land and the territory in the “rural movement” of Santiago del Estero and in the bureaucratic field, around the category fence, from the experiences of the establishment of community livestock enclosures in said Argentine province. In diverse ethnographic situations, we were able to observe the ways of (dis)legitimizing visions and procedures deployed in the legal defense of the land. On the one hand, that of the mocase Vía Campesina, nucleated around the slogan of “no enclosure”, associated with the concept of “territory”. On the other hand, the one that considers “enclosure” viable as a strategy of resistance supported by the legal framework of the right of possession and economic-productive logic promoted by technicians and officials within the framework of a national public policy.