Rosario’s University

College of Social Sciences

Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro

Body changes: reflect to economic and political discourses

¡Campesinos! ; ¡La caña de azúcar lo degenera a uno, lo vuelve una bestia, y mata!
Si no tenemos tierra no podemos contemplar el futuro bienestar de nuestros hijos y familias.
Sin tierra no puede haber salud, ·ni cultura; ni educación; ni seguridad para nosotros. Los
campesinos marginados. En todos estos distritos uno encuentra las parcelas de la mayoría
amenazadas por el terrible Monstruo Verde, que es la Gran Ca1ia, el Dios de los amos de la
Tierra.

Peasant band, Cauca Valley, 1972 (Quoted in Taussig, 1980)

Valle del Cauca is a colombian department located in the south-west of Colombia.

According to Dane, the population in that territory is 4.428.342 habitants (12.9% life in rural
areas and the rest, 87% in urban spaces). Its territorial shape is effect to economic, political,
territorial, local process and some topography and agro-ecological conditions. The region has
five subregions that build a relation between economy and territory. One of those subregions
is the production and transformation of cane located in the northern Valle del Cauca (Centro
de Memoria Histórica, 2014: 30-31). In spite of that, the place is recognized for its massive
cane cultivation, the political and economic process to introduce the cane in Valle del Cauca
changed social dynamics. Some of the factors responsible for this transformation are: the
incursion of abroad economic capitals, processes of urbanization and industrialization,
infrastructures promoted to the State and the agro-industry as an engine of “regional
development” (Uribe, 2014, 17).
The peasants common goods, like water and lands, became private property and the
products trade economy became an economy based on money. Also, the relation in
community changed, like La Minga “(...) La minga is like a proletarian union. It was a
common think. But today, there is nothing because, in this area, the proletarian peasants
don’t have a place to work [and] for doing a minga” (Taussig, 1980, p. 103). Well, the idea
of development in Valle del Cauca with massive cane cultivation, changes the dynamics. But,
also could change the body practices and its perception. It seems that the body doesn’t have
any relation with the cane cultivation and its relation between global and local processes.
However, Anthony Giddens highlights the fact that thanks to the security and reliability
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
sought in modernity, new risks arise (1990). In this sense, this work wishes to retouch the
importance of identifying the risks that may come from globalization in relation to body
representation. Let us remember that the extent of the consequences of globalization aren’t
only visible in political, economic and cultural events, it’s also possible to observe them
within our conception of themselves (Le Breton, 2013).

From the ways we see ourselves to the practices by which we interact with power, our
body seems affected, related and molded towards facing globalization. From this perspective,
it seems relevant to study the cultural repercussions of this economic and political processes.
Even though the practices around the body usually come from a discipline process, the
cultural character may be overlooked in the analysis of these changes. This process becomes
clearer through the study of cultural industries. The view of the cultural industries implies a
perspective from which we comprehend intercultural relations. As Martin Barbero said,
cultural industries do not impose practices and ideals towards the population, but rather exists
towards a democratization of culture and reconfigures Latin-American culture through trans
nationalization (Barbero, 1993). Considering what was previously said, our question is how
body practices in the cane industry representation are determined by globalization
discourses? The changes in the market, product of globalization, as Anthony Giddens present
in his text Modernidad y autoidentidad, change the way we perceive our own body, which
reflect in new economic processes.

To identify the way political and economic discourses determine body practices in the
cane industry, we analyzed the cultural production made around the topic. As a starting point,
we see the movie La Tierra y La Sombra. This movie presents the conflict of a man who goes
back to his hometown and has to reestablish his familiar relationships and faces the strong
changes the place has had while he was gone. We find it useful to our research because the
changes throughout time that affect the lifestyle of the whole family are related to the idea of
the cane industry as an engine of development in rural areas of the country. With this in
mind, we plan to analyze the way such discourses generate a new series of practices and ways
to interact with the territory, as presented in the movie. Following our interest on discourses
around our topic, we'll also analyze press in order to understand how this cultural production
are interpreted and received by the public. Also, we will analyze press and publicity in order
to comprehend the effects on the body related to globalization and development discourses.
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
Our first reference is the critic of Michael Taussig in The Devil and the Fetishism of
Merchandise in South America, about the side effects that capitalism generates on the
producing class and its impact, not only on its modes of production, but on its lifestyle. In the
text, he explains, without a trychon, the effect produced by the false ideas of progress of the
capitalist economy in the light of two particular cases: The cane planting in Valle del Cauca
and the exploitation of tin mines in Bolivia throughout the 19th century. It is important the
symbolic relationship it establishes between capitalism and the devil because it represents a
strong criticism of the agreement signed by pre capitalist economies with a new economic
system that only seeks to subjugate them and make them part of a circle of deadly production
and consumption. The fetishism of the commodity becomes, imminently, the evil spirit of
capitalism, where a few prosper at the expense of unjustly acquired wealth and many others
succumb to equally unfair poverty.

As Taussig states: "Wealth exists in parallel with crushing poverty. Economic laws
trump ethical laws. The goal of the economy is production, not man, and consumer goods
govern their creators." (Taussig, p. 69, 1980). As Marx predicted in Capital, man will stripp
himself of his human nature and eventually become another beneficial work facility for the
perpetuation of the capitalist economic system (Taussig, 1980). On the other hand, the
concept of representation from which the research is based is that of David Le Breton in
Anthropology of the body and modernity, where representation occurs as the result of
dynamic experiences in the social, historical and economic context where locates the
individual. Thus, how representation will be understood as a process of incarnation that is
influenced by the global vision of society and juxtaposes the singular perception of the
individual. That is why the body, according to Le Breton, speaks about the transformations of
the social state, because the body is a socially constructed representation that reflects not
reality in itself but a particular view of the world.

Likewise, the author recognizes that although the body is a result of social and
political changes, it also embodies the individual unity of the subject and it is through him
that he manages to make agency about his own decisions. Le Breton refers to this process as
an atomization of subjects because they detach the self from expectations and traditional
elements at the cultural level. This does not mean that they separate themselves from any
cultural relationship, but rather take various perspectives and symbolic positions from other
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
cultures to structure their own. It is at this point that both the body and globalization go
through a process in two ways, because the body transforms its dimensions, limits and
representations to become much more understandable to others and be the subject of various
global and local transitions.

Let's take another text of body anthropology that, will represent the theoretical basis
of research and the return to the anthropology of the body, that is why we will use the theory
of the body developed in the article of Mariana Del Mármol and Mariana L. Sáenz entitled
What do we talk about when we talk about body from the Social Sciences?. In this text, the
authors mention that the body began to be delineated as a field of study from the 1970s, when
it began to be recognized as a sociocultural construct and no longer as a purely biological
entity. In this way, the recognition of the cultural and historical dimensions that constitute the
bodies produced a reformulation of the theories of culture, the subject and experience, putting
the body in a central place and giving rise, not only to the emergence of anthropology of the
body, but also to the consideration of the bodily in other areas of the social sciences such as
medical anthropology, gender sociology, performance theory, feminist theory, literary
criticism, studies of comparative religions, among many others. For research it is important to
have these clear conceptualizations since the body will be analyzed as a symbolic body that
accounts for the economic, historical and political changes of its experiential context.

On the other hand, it's important to take into account how globalization has
established ways of thinking rural spaces, economy, and activities. The text
"Multifuncionalidad de la agricultura" y "Nueva ruralidad" ¿Reestructuración de las
políticas públicas a la hora de la globalización? Presents a debate around concepts from
which rural activities are thought to formulate public politics. In the case of Latin America,
the concept of New Rurality is created to establish a main point from which public politics
are made to reach the economic commitments of the countries in the region. Initially, during
the decades of 1950 and 1960, agriculture mainly supported the industrial economy and kept
the inversions in the sector. This changed with the debt crisis during the decade of 1980,
which pushed Latin American nations to a liberalization of the economy. The concept of New
Rurality is developed for the evolution of rural activities towards more productivity and as a
way to insert the nation's into the global economy.
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
It's developed during the 1990's, with the creation of commercial regional blocks,
which end up requiring the increase of investment into exports, and reducing it in social
services. This becomes problematic in contexts of social exclusion and inequality, as it's
usually seen in Latin America (Bonnal, Bosc, Diaz y Losch, 2003). Finally, following the
importance of the relation between global and local context The antipolitics machine, by
James Ferguson, presents the case where development projects don’t necessarily work in the
way they are planned. This comes by the idea of a neutral position in the development
discourses and, the insertion and relation of this projects with local communities must be
understood in relation with a bigger “machine” (Fergusson, 2006). Following this idea, we
took this point of view of development to understand the narratives and critics towards
development presented in these films.

Body

"To think of the body is to think of the world"

David Le Breton (2005) II Congress of Arts, Sciences and Humanities "The Body
Deciphered"

The body is a place of enunciation, in it are signs of conflict, transformations and

transitions to which it is subjected according to the local and global dimensions in which it is
located. For this reason, the body is the result, but it is also the reaction to different cultural,
political and economic dynamics, which I would like to say that it does not work
autonomously, but is determined by social and symbolic fluctuations (Le Breton, p. 22,
2013). In the film, it is clear that bodily practices are determined by the economic situation of
the cane industry, as stated above, both the subsistence of Gerardo and that of his family
depends on it. Although everyone admits that work and treatment in the reed page for lack of
social security is ruthless, they should subordinate theself to it because it is the only way of
working that offers significant income and that is located close to their property. However,
they are all aware of the pauper economic support offered by the company and also know that
the bodily and mental effort invested in cane crops is not reflected in the payment they
receive in return.
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
We can see through the movie how this situation is experienced in a different way by
each character through their body practices related to the cane industry. While Gerardo sees
the cane plantation as the only way to support his family economically, as well as he views
his recuperation and work as the main excuse to stay and take care of his mother, it also
represents the deterioration of his health. Following this, it's important to recognise how
working in the industry is experienced in different ways. The case of Alicia and Esperanza
continually contrasts with the experience of men working in the cane plantation, since it
becomes a necessity to stay working even if they’re not getting paid, while the other workers
choose to stop working in order to demand their pay. As the only two women working in the
plantation, it rises certain circumstances that are not usually faced by men, like being fired
even if there’s no proof that their work is less productive than their peers.
This affects the whole family not only because of the stereotypes upon women, but
also because of the nature of the kind of work required and the precarious work conditions in
the cane industry. In this way, the idea that women can’t give the same results as men affects
Esperanza, but also the age of Alicia is seen as a limitation, as well as the health of Gerardo,
who is not only weak because of his disease, but also doesn’t have any support from the
industry that affected his health in the first place. The need to feel productive of Alicia and
Esperanza, even if the activity is not useful to them or their family, is created by the
precarious situation in which they live, since there is no other way to give economic support
to their family. This means that, the ambiguous interaction between the employees and the
employer gives the opportunity to the employer to use the strong dependency of people like
Alicia and Esperanza have towards the cane plantation.
Clearly, the situation of workers in the reed beds of the Cauca Valley is just a sign of
the great problem about the disinterest of the capitalist industry by the people who work and
give, practically all their bodily faculties for the enrichment that will fill the pockets of those
who run industries and not those who keep them standing. Taussig already announced this,
saying that "the peasant who makes pacts with the cane, makes, at the same time, pacts with
the devil" (Taussig, p. 133, 1980), because he is doomed to sell his soul and violate his
integrity by satisfying wealthy mouths while putting his own and his family's.It is here that
the body appears as the recipient of the abuses of the cane industry, its environment, its forms
of production and above all, its forms of representation. This is why when studying the bodily
practices of cane workers, not only are the abrupt anatomical changes being taken into
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
account, the symbolic relationships between the body and the cane are also evident (Le
Breton, 2013). The body, in this order of ideas, reflects the environment in which the cane
worker lives, labors and coexists. Wear, disease, injured joints and scars modify the physical
body and at the same time shape the sensitive body, full of representations, perceptions,
resilience and struggles.
Effects of globalization: relation between global and local practices

The movie reflects how capitalism and its development discourses could change the
land dynamics and affect people. As Fazio said, globalization is a process that produces deep
changes in different places, social aspects and various levels. It's different to
internationalization and interdependence because is a transformative process that alter the
time/space relations. (Fazio, 2002, 21). Valle del Cauca was an example to globalization
process and its discourse of development, thus is represents in the movie La tierra y la
sombra. In the 20 century was an increase to foreign investment thanks to new conservative
government. With the advice from EEUU, the country built a new bank and taxes structure,
and new infrastructures like railways in el Valle. As a result, the value of lands increase, the
large-scale agriculture improve and, in turn, displace the peasants of their lands. Peasants
forced to sail theirs territories and adapted to laboral conditions of cane cultivation (Taussig,
1980). As in the movie, home characters is surrounded to cane cultivation and they can just
work in this plantations because it doesn’t exist another type of cultivation.
Additionally, the environmental impact of the industry affects daily activities and the
relation with the space the family inhabits. This isn’t only around the cautions needed to take
care of Gerardo, but also all the changes in the environment caused by the cane plantation,
which motivated Alfonso to leave in the first place. Initially, the practices around Gerardo’s
disease modify the way the whole family lives. Closing all the windows, having to take a
shower before entering the house and the constant confinement of Gerardo changed the
family’s routine, but also resignified their relation with the space. In this sense, their home
isn’t just a place of reunion for the family, or the place to satisfy their basic needs, but, most
importantly, becomes the space where, no matter what's happening in the plantation
surrounding them, they will be safe. From this perspective, it becomes clear that the cane
plantation is not only seen as a danger to Gerardo, but is the cause of economic insecurity
while the only way to improve their quality of life, once Gerardo recovers. On the other hand,
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
the house is, besides a safe place, the representation of the isolation from opportunities; while
Gerardo is isolated by the house from the plantation, Manuel and Esperanza are isolated from
a better future.
It is important to named one of the development discourse: “for improving life is
necessary to earn more money”. As Escobar said, development is a discourse historically
produce that justify strategies from Europe and the United States to intervene others lands.
Supposedly, this lands have to be changed for its “underdevelopment” through economic
policies (2012) like increase the monoculture of cane in Valle del Cauca. That one is shown
in the movie, implicitly, because allegedly cane plantation appear to develop the region.
Nevertheless, that development refers to producing economic capital for industries, not for
the community. In addition to this, the movie involves how this value is in conflict with the
idea of quality of life that the family has. As Alfonso goes back to his family after being
absent for twelve years, he continually makes explicit his discontent with the recent
transformation of the territory caused by the cane industry. Besides that, his interaction with
his grandson makes evident what he appreciated of his home before leaving. Even though the
family counted on various factors that made them attached to their home, the urgent need for
money, as Alicia and Esperanza were unemployed, and the recent death of Gerardo, made
them migrate to the city.
This situation brings up how development discourses aren't only based on political or
economic strategies, but are validated as they involve people’s livelihood. The opposition
continually presented between Alicia and Alfonso towards the life of the family in the middle
of the cane plantation clearly illustrates the conflict that the family faces when their
livelihood is at risk. Even if Alfonso still appreciates their life as it used to be, he refers to
Alicia as a manipulative mother putting at risk the life of his son; as the representation of the
underdevelopment keeping away the family of a better life. By saying “déjelos ir, no los
arrastre con usted” while talking about the life of the family with Alicia, he implies that their
life will constantly get worse, but leaving her and their home to live in the city will ensure a
better life. This brings up how migration has been caused in Colombia. As Lina Sánchez
presents, the migration towards cities in Colombia may be influenced by development
discourses, economic benefits or violence but, at its core, is caused in a violent way as people
have no other choice but to leave rural areas (Sánchez, 2008). In this case, the abuse towards
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
workers from the cane industry, the poor quality of health services and the environmental
issues give the family no other choice but to leave.
History and press: Valle del Cauca
The second part of the analysis is based in press reviews and a history of cane
plantation in Valle del Cauca. While thinking of publicity and the narrative around the cane
industry in relation with the identity in Valle del Cauca, it's important to recognize the role
that it has had through the years. In the first place, it's important to take into account the
changes around cane production and its representation. On one hand, we find literary work
with cane production as its scenery, like El alferez real by Eustaquio Palacios, where a love
story is developed in a cane plantation of a large landowner in the end of the nineteenth
century. However, the idea of its relation with the development becomes stronger since the
1930’s, when the cane production starts being industrialized. This perspective start as large
landowners became agroindustrial businessmen to take advantage of the international market
and the flourishing exportation of goods of Colombia. In this way, the cane production
became an emblem of the development in Colombia, next to the railway, steam navigation
and the construction of roads through the country.
Following this, it means not only the improvement of the rural activity, but it also
introduced different new production as textiles, coffee and tobacco (Patrimonio fotográfico y
fílmico de Valle del Cauca, s.f.) Nowadays, it is still the first thing in mind while thinking of
economic development, as shown in the article Industria del Valle sigue creciendo más que
la del resto del país, since it’s content points out that the automotive and textile production
are leading the industrial growth in the department, even though the illustrative image is of
the cane industry (ElPais, 2019). Besides this, this production also allows new industries from
the same raw material, as production of ethanol and paper, and has a long history of being
viewed as an environmentally conscious production, since its residue can be reused in the
plantation (Semana, 1996).
Conclusion
In conclusion, in spite of globalization as an ambiguous process, it is possible to find
relation between local process, like the transformation of lands in Valle del Cauca, and global
process, as industries that go to different places with the idea of development. This type of
view could be represented in the media, as the movie or the different news, and it means that
is possible to show the transformation of a land in other ways and not only through scholars
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
texts. The discourses around globalization just don’t change social dynamics, also they could
shape the body practices as the labor of cultive cane. Thus, it is important to study the body
and its practices. This can be observed in various ways, but cultural production such as
movies and the role of the press brings into the table not only the body practices, but how
they are viewed and interpreted within economic processes. In this sense, the body offers
several paths of analysis to observe social transformations, political and economic tensions
and tensions, representations and symbols around the same subject, in this case, the reality of
sugarcane corters in the Cauca Valley.
This study is just an approximation to a problem that turns out to be the tip of the
iceberg of the great conflict of effects of the global market on body representation with
farmers living on the cane. But the truth is that the capitalist industry not only affects the
changes in production and marketing of one or the other product, as was evident, it also
influences our daily practices, bodily perceptions and even our sensitivities .
References 

Bonnal, Philippe, Pierre Marie Bosc, Jorge Mario Díaz, y Bruno Losch. 2004.
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políticas públicas a la hora de la globalización?” En Pérez, Edelmira y María
Adelaida Farah (Editoras). Desarrollo rural y nueva ruralidad en América Latina y la
Unión Europea. Bogotá: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. 19–41.

Crespo, C.  (2015). La cultura del cuerpo en tiempos de globalización. In XI

Congreso Argentino y VI Latinoamericano
de Educación Física y Ciencias (Ensenada, 2015). 

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poder y violencia en el Valle del Cauca (1960-2012).

Escobar, Arturo. (2012). “El desarrollo y la antropología de la modernidad” pp 72 –

82. En: Beatriz Pérez (ed), Antropología y Desarrollo. Madrid: Universidad
Complutense de Madrid.
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
Fazio, H. (2002). La globalización en su historia. Colombia: Universidad Nacional de
Colombia. 

Ferguson, James (2006) “The Antipolitics Machine” en The Anthropology of the

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Giddens, A. (1990).  Consecuencias de
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de: https://www.revistaarcadia.com/agenda/articulo/marmato-del-socavon-la-pantalla-
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Mármol, M. D. (2011). ¿ De qué hablamos cuando hablamos del cuerpo desde las
ciencias sociales?. Question.
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Le Breton, D. (2002). Antropología del cuerpo  y  modernidad. In:
https://www.perio.unlp.edu.ar/catedras/system/files/le-breton-antropologia-del-
cuerpo-caps_1-2-3.pdf  (164-170) (13-21).

Taussig, T. M. (1980). The Devil and the Fetishism of Merchandise in South America,
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Uribe, H. (2015). Expansión cañera en el Valle del Cauca y resistencias comunitarias

(Colombia). Ambiente y sostenibilidad, 4, 16-30.

Sánchez Steiner, L. (2008). Éxodos rurales y urbanización en Colombia. Perspectiva

histórica y aproximaciones teóricas. Bitácora Urbano Territorial, 13, 57-72.

Semana (1996). DULCE OLOR A CAÑA. Recuperado de:

https://www.semana.com/especiales/articulo/dulce-olor-caa/31116-3

El País (2019). Industria del Valle sigue creciendo más que la del resto del país.
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creciendo-mas-que-la-del-resto-del-pais.html
Rosario’s University
College of Social Sciences
Globalization
Final draft created by
Alejandra Pardo, Valentina Soler and Carolina Chaparro
Patrimonio fotográfico y fílmico del Valle del Cauca (s.f.) Exposición:
Modernizaciones en el Valle del Cauca siglo XX. Recuperado de:
http://expovirtuales.bibliovalle.gov.co/project/desarrollo-comercial-agropecuario-
industria-manufacturera-moderna/