Territory, power and soybean production in the Latin American Southern Cone. The Argentine case

Abstract

This paper discusses territorial issues of re-primarization of Latin American economies, particularly those of the Southern Cone. It uses secondary information, interviews with qualified informants and research results, essentially linked to the expansion of soybean production in Argentina. From a conceptual perspective focused on territory and power, it uncovers various situations affecting the people livelihoods, especially of those living upon resources under dispute (land, water, forests). Under this light it shows that the current form of accumulation, which is extractive and speculative, affects the future of society as a whole. To neglect this is to be functional to the dominant sectors ´ interests.