The Peasants of El Ceibal and Access to Justice. Land Rights and precarious Land Tenure in Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract

In order to interpret the processes of transformation that have taken place in the agricultural sector of Argentine society within the past two decades, this article analyzes the economic, legal, and political obstacles affecting small-scale peasant production units in Santiago del Estero in the context of a lawsuit and its impact on the domination/resistance of rural subaltern actors. The peasants of El Ceibal were successful in thwarting an attempt to auction off the land on which their families have been living for generations without holding formal property titles. The article also looks at how the position of the individual within a judicial process of which he or she is not considered to be a part has changed, and how this contributes to rethinking theoretically the concept of subalternity. In English, extensive summary in Russian.