Paper Short Abstract:

Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in northwestern Doñana, this presentation traces the way in which hegemonic constructions of agricultural work, farming and wealth allow those responsible for depletive dynamics to reposition themselves as environmental custodians.

Paper Abstract:

Located in southwestern Spain, Doñana is typically described as one of Europe’s most important wetlands. It is presently also the site of one of Europe’s most prominent groundwater conflicts, a result of decades’ long abstraction of water for berry production. Routinely covered by national and international media, groundwater conflicts in the region have recently seen a major new development. An agreement between the regional and the national government has been hailed as a success for the environmentalist movement and proof of the fact that the integration of agricultural interests and conservation plans is possible. Against this common reading, the presentation will trace the way in which hegemonic constructions of agricultural work, farming and wealth perpetuate the exclusion of those most affected by industrial agriculture and their silencing as environmental agents. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in northwestern Doñana, I will discuss how the solutions so far rehearsed in the groundwater conflict allow those responsible for depletive dynamics to reposition themselves as environmental custodians. This process is part, I argue, of a broader process of revalorization of devalued agricultural assets. The success of this exclusionary strategy for the revalorization of agricultural assets is dependent on the blurring of the boundaries between agricultural production as a source of exchange value and agricultural production as a source of use values.