Mércores 10: 10:30 a 13:30
Sebastián Iturriaga Gazol
- Title: Navigatingt beween appropriating and appropriate technology: the peasant struggle for autonomy Mexico
- Abstract: Given the well-established overlapping crises confronting agricultural production today, in which the modernist treadmill of agricultural technologies (AgTech) continues to erode the biophysical conditions of production, it has become more pressing than ever to revisit the debate between alternative modernity and alternatives to modernity in contexts such as rural Mexico. This debate is rehabilitated by drawing a correspondence to the distinct intellectual and historical lineages of appropriating versus appropriate AgTech in Latin America. This examination is situated within Cultural Control Theory, particularly as it relates to struggles for autonomy in the Mexican rural ethnographic and historical tradition. Empirically, the research adopts a comparative case study design, focusing on two contrasting configurations: the collectivization of an irrigation system of a peasant indigenous community and a peasant-led technological experimental network. Conceptually, the comparison is grounded in the framework of Ontological Design. Methodologically, I outline a preliminary technographic plan to guide fieldwork. The most pressing challenges at this stage are: (1) avoiding a dichotcomic block of "appropriating" / "appropriate" AgTech that obscure hybrid intersecting socio-technical formations; and (2) sustaining a robust comparative analytical framework that can account for the substantial material and organizational differences between the two cases (e.g., one is an irrigation system and the other is an experimental network). I welcome suggestions addressing these issues, as well as any other concerns not yet identified.
Ana Alfaya Seguín
- Title: The Right to Repair in the EU: Sociotechnical imaginaries, controversies, and the making of Policies
- Abastract: The R2R has emerged as a central issue in contemporary debates on sustainability, circular economy, and digital governance. In the EU, the development of recent legislative initiatives-such as the 2024 Right to Repair Directive and the ecodesign framework-reveals the increasing political relevance of repair as a mechanism to address environmental degradation, reduce resource consumption, and challenge dominant models of technological production. This research aims to examine how sociotechnical imaginaries and competing discourses influence the formulation of R2R policies in the EU. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and the controversy mapping approach, the aim is to analyse the heterogeneous networks of actors that shape the meanings, constraints, and possibilities of repairability. Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, analysis of regulatory documents, and the mapping of public controversies, the research explores how visions of sustainability, innovation, ownership, and economic transformation are mobilised to justify or resist regulatory interventions.
Víctor José Sánchez Suárez
- Title: In the names of Justice: Problematizing Just Transition scholarship
- Abstract: The concept of a"Just Transition" has become a dominant policy framework for reconciling the need for undertake transitions towards sustainability and social justice. However, this presentation argues that the very term "justice" within the scholarship is often under-theorized, ambiguous, and politically co-opted. Moving beyond a celebratory adoption of the term, we problematize the Just Transition discourse by evaluating the assumptions characterizing the most influential literature. We analyze how the plural and often contradictory meanings of justice are conflated or selectively applied, potentially reinforcing existing power structures rather than dismantling them. By critically examining the scholarly literature, this presentation aims to sharpen the concept's analytical edge and highlight the risks of a "just transition" that fails to name and challenge the root causes of injustice it purports to solve.Ultimately, this presentation calls for a more politically literate and precise scholarship. By forcing a confrontation with the question, "In whose name is justice being invoked?", we aim to reclaim the radical potential of the Just Transition.
Lugar das presentacións: Auditorio del edificio de Benito Corbal (Sótano 1)