An Analysis os State Stewardship in the Production of Burley Tobacco in Misiones (Argentina): Meanings and Disputes

Abstract

In this article, I analyze the State’s
“stewardship” of the cultivation of the tobacco Bur-
ley. The state regulates this activity in the province of
Misiones (Argentina) through some public policies
and administrative structures. This situation trans-
forms the State into one of the principal actors in this
process because of its – direct or indirect –interven-
tion in the conditions of reproduction of the tobacco
activity, particularly for the so-called family produ-
cers. By means of the establishment of different legal
mechanisms – National Law of Tobacco (1967) and
so on – articulating local and global processes, the
State has facilitated a process of regional specializa-
tion in this crop and created a field in which political
and economical subjects are disputed. The analytical
perspective offered here is based on a review of the
empirical material from my fieldwork, including in-
terviews with producers, and on the use of secondary
sources (newspaper articles, legislation, and official
statistics) from the perspective of the political an-
thropology wich also focuses on state institutions.