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Imaginaries of Soy and the Costs of Commodity-led Development: Reflections from Argentina

Giraudo, Maria Eugenia; Grugel, Jean

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Authors

Jean Grugel



Abstract

Many developing countries continue to follow export-oriented growth strategies based on primary commodities, in spite of the many limitations of such policies. The persistence of this model is inherently related to the dominance of ‘commodity imaginaries’, a compound of ideas and symbols that influence how a society understands its identity, norms and path to ‘national development’. In Argentina, an emblematic case of commodity dependency, this imaginary has been dominated for the last thirty years by soybean. The soybean imaginary has framed mainstream understandings of Argentina’s path to growth and progress, shaped political contestation and ensured that a particular understanding of science and technology sits at the centre of the meaning of national development. In the process, it has transformed the country’s geography in ways that normalise soy’s dominance and invisibilise people and places located at the margins of the imaginary. The soybean imaginary renders a deeply political project of economic growth ‘common sense’. An understanding of the power of commodity imaginaries allows us to better identify and comprehend how choices that support unsustainable and unequal development trajectories are made, and the cultural, political, and economic structures that legitimise these choices, as well as their impacts and consequences.

Citation

Giraudo, M. E., & Grugel, J. (2022). Imaginaries of Soy and the Costs of Commodity-led Development: Reflections from Argentina. Development and Change, 53(4), 796-826. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12714

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 28, 2021
Online Publication Date May 16, 2022
Publication Date Jul 12, 2022
Deposit Date Nov 9, 2021
Publicly Available Date Jul 25, 2022
Journal Development and Change
Print ISSN 0012-155X
Electronic ISSN 1467-7660
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 53
Issue 4
Pages 796-826
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12714
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1222757

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Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Development and Change published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Institute of Social Studies.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.





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