On dialogues and existences: A possible contribution of anthropology to agroecology

Abstract

We intend to problematize the agroecological "dialogue of knowledge" and survey the conditions of anthropology for such problems. The fundamental argument is that, despite the proposal of non-hierarchical construction of agroecological knowledge (between "scientific" and "non-scientific" knowledge), its epistemological basis does not comprises the complex interactions produced among the agents in question, ambivalently contributing to a hierarchical and asymmetric relationship of power. We suggest that: the idea that agroecology promotes harmonious relations between scientists and farmers simplifies interactions tensioned by the dynamic approximation/estrangement; the conception of culture and cultural diversity implicit in the dialogue of knowledge is based on the dissociation between "thought" and "action" a "political dynamics of alterity" would better define the agroecological relational scheme; the anthropological conception of translation would contribute to the promotion of a "double extensionality, " not based on the capacity to teach, but rather on the capacity to learn.