Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the role of "alambrados" (wire fences) in controlling herding animals mobilities in the Brazilian-Uruguayan border. It argues that alambrados are material resonators of the oscillation between positive direct and negative indirect modes of domestication in the Pampas.

Paper long abstract:

Recent perspectives on domestication in anthropology have emphasized the importance of technical objects and other environmental elements as mediators of the relations between humans, animals and the landscapes they inhabit. Drawing on the concept of "architecture of domestication", proposed by Anderson and others (2017), as well as on the idea that one of the first operations carried out by a technical object is to define actors and a space (Akrich, 1989), this paper discusses the role of wire and wooden fences (locally known as "alambrados") in the context of ranching in the Brazilian-Uruguayan border. Moreover, the paper aims to explore the role played by the fences in the relational game that involves humans and herd animals in the Pampas, understanding these structures as material resonators of the oscillation between positive direct and negative indirect modes of controlling more-than-human mobilities in a context of intense cross-border exchanges, dating back to colonial times. The paper also discusses how recent transformations in the Pampeano environment, in particular the biological invasion of European wild boars (Sus scrofa) in both Brazil and Uruguay, have reshaped alambrados' affordances, conferring new uses and social meanings on old material structures.