Seminar given by Florencia Arancibia,National University of General San Martín (CONICET) Argentina

Organised by: José Ramón Bertomeu (IILP-UV) and Ximo Guillem (IILP-UV) with the collaboration of SCHCT.

Seminars coordinated by: Enric Novella (IILP-UV)

The seminar can be live-streamed on the following link: http://reunion.uv.es/hcc2

Knowledge and action strategies in the fight against agrotoxins: the trial for the fumigation in Córdoba (Argentina).

Part of this presentation is based on an article published on Science as Culture, along with Renata Motta, in 2018.  Source citation:  Florencia Arancibia & Renata Motta (2018): “Undone Science and Counter-Expertise: Fighting for Justice in an Argentine Community Contaminated by Pesticides”, Science as Culture, DOI:  10.1080/09505431.2018.1533936. Link to the article:

https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2018.1533936

  Summary

Social movements struggling against socio-environmental injustices must usually fight for recognition of a condition denied by governmental institutions and “experts” of control bodies. This situation leads them to produce and/or mobilise diverse knowledge. The concept of “counter-expertise” refers to knowledge - in a broad sense - that calls into question policy decisions supposedly based on scientific knowledge (such as the approval of new technologies). Through a case study, this type of knowledge and the boundary between "experts" and "non-experts” should be reflected on. In the neighbourhood of Ituzaingó Anexo in Córdoba, the movement against the use of agrochemicals developed and brought into play different types of "counter-expertise" in a process of struggle that began in 2001 and led to the first trial that condemned illegal fumigation as a criminal offence of environmental pollution in 2012. Three types of counter-expertise that were produced and mobilised during this process have been identified: local knowledge, scientific knowledge and legal knowledge. The case illustrates the positive relationships and synergies that can occur between these three knowledge types to face socio-environmental injustice situations.

Biography

Florencia Arancibia is researcher at CENIT, National University of General San Martín (CONICET) Argentina.  She obtained her Doctorate on Sociology at the State University of New York on 2015. She was a Fulbright and Grassroots Development fellowship recipient. Her fields of research are the social studies of science and technology and the study of social movements. Her doctoral thesis focused on the relationships and alliances between social movements and health scientists/experts in the conflict over the use of agrotoxins in Argentina. She published on this subject in several journals (such as Land Use Change, Science as Culture, Technology in Society, Sociology Compass, Theory in Action, Metatheoria). Her current projects continue to focus on socio-environmental conflicts, co-production of knowledge, social movements, agro-productive models and food sovereignty in Argentina.