The Networks of the Argentinian Agrobiotechnological Sector: Dispositives and Praxes of Legitimization of Expert Knowledge
The Research Project Networks of the Argentinian Agrobiotechnological Sector: Dispositives and Praxes of Legitimization of “Expert” Knowledge focus on the process of social legitimization of modern biotechnological knowledge, taking as case of study the rural sector in Argentina. This process is analyzed by the specific relationship modes that companies of this sector establish with communities, either directly, through Corporate Social Responsibility programs, or mediated by several ways of association (NGOs, foundations, etc.).
Based on research conducted, we have identified specific social spaces from which can be seen analytically the social legitimization process of modern biotechnology knowledge and its products in the agro sector. Then it tries to describe empirically how this legitimization process unfolds, who are the players involved and how they are interconnected (by which logics, objectives and strategies), on which scenarios these processes are crystallize, what are these action's results in terms of asymmetries of power and knowledge, and what does transnational interdependencies reveal the positioning of scientific knowledge as "expert knowledge" in a particular national context: the transformation of traditional agricultural production to agribusiness model in Argentina.