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21 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 55 (2014)
Regular Soybeans: Translation and Framing in the Ontological Politics of a Coup

handle is hein.journals/ijgls21 and id is 63 raw text is: Regular Soybeans: Translation and Framing in the Ontological Politics of a Coup KREGG HETHERINGTON* ABSTRACT This paper argues for understanding the regulation and standardization of objects as fundamentally about adding to those objects rather than reducing or simplifying them. The analysis is based on the ethnographic study of regulatory politics in Paraguayan soybean production over the course of two decades in which the Paraguayan state increased its regulatory capacity immensely. By looking at very different forms of regulatory intervention, it shows that each regulatory moment can best be understood as a translation which adds to the complexity of the objects in question by adding new actors and concerns to their circulation. This provides a more dynamic way of understanding the politics of regulation than more common approaches that see regulation as technical and depoliticizing. * Kregg Hetherington is professor of Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal. He has a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of California, Davis (2008). Since 2002, he has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Paraguay. His work, exemplified by the book Guerrilla Auditors (Duke University Press 2011), explores the relationship between activist politics and law. The research on which this paper is based took place between 2010 and 2012, and involved extensive fieldwork and interviewing among state regulators and farmers during the administration of President Fernando Lugo (2008-2012). This paper would not have been possible without the generosity and openness of many farmers and functionaries in Paraguay, particularly those working in SENAVE. Marco Castillo, Alejandra Estigarribia, and Sofia Espindola helped with the research in Asunci6n, which was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The paper itself is the direct result of the provocations and conversations of the conference Regulatory Translations: Expertise and Affect in Global Legal Fields (May 16-18, 2013), organized by Bogazigi University, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, and Rice University. I am indebted to all those who participated, and particularly to Andrea Ballestero, Umut Tiurem, and Fred Aman for their generous invitation and later comments. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Vol. 21 #1 (Winter 2014) @ Indiana University Maurer School of Law 55