Aesthetics and Media: Strategies for the political action of leadership of a yerbatero family farmers organization in the province of Misiones

Abstract

This article attempts to understand the different political actions that the Asociación de Productores Agrícolas de Misiones (APAM) uses to visibilize their demands and solve the problems they must face. In a context of decapitalization of the middle class agricultural sector, which based its economy on the traditional cultivation of yerba mate, the leadership of APAM —that assumes their representation— uses diverse strategies as forms of political action. These actions are presented as disputes in the political and economical fields and this paper classifies, describes and discusses these strategies and resources. An ethnographic approach was used to study the practices and narratives of subjects in the reconstruction of their life trajectories. Two variables stand out in the analysis developed: media as tools used by actors for political action and aesthetics as part of a narrative that seeks to situate demands in the public scene.