The constitution of the field of rural development: case study in western central Argentina

RODRÍGUEZ BILELLA, PABLO

Lambert

Lugar: Saarbrügen; Año: 2010 p. 224

978-3-8383-4474-4

This book is concerned with development interventions in rural Argentina. It tells the story ofthe Agriculture Social Programme (PSA), the first State sponsored programme to target smallfarmers in Argentina as a whole. The central concern of the thesis is to illuminate thecomplexity of intervention processes through a better understanding of how planneddevelopment programmes are not only transformed during their implementation but are alsoessentially constituted by the interface encounters between different actors. The empiricalmaterial that forms the basis of the thesis was gathered through an extended period coveringfive years involvement with the programme as well as an intensive year of fieldwork inArgentina.Chapter 1 introduces the PSA as a particular case of the new style of social policy prevailing inLatin America, which has found its expression in the appearance of Social Funds. The PSA isdescribed and an outline of the thesis is presented. Chapter 2 lays out the central theoreticalconcepts that guided the enquiry, and the methodological approach and fieldwork organisationis explicitly stated. Chapter 3 describes two main stages in the development of the programme,paying particular attention to the life stories of some PSA officials at the national level. Chapter 4, focuses on the administrative provincial domain and analyses the concrete realities of PSA implementation in a province in western central Argentina.The three following chapters examine the interfaces between PSA officials, extension workersand the direct beneficiaries of the programme. Chapter 5 analyses the issue of ´targeting´, whichis key to the operations of the PSA, and the different repercussions and strategies developed bythe diverse actors involved in targeting. Chapter 6 explores how the concept of the ´group´, used as an intervention strategy by the programme, constituted a differentially appropriated and interpreted model of the client. The usefulness of the notion of ´social capital´ is discussed in Chapter 7, based in two cases of farmers´ organizations. Chapter 8 completes the thesis bydrawing some general theoretical and empirical conclusions.