Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
defi nitions of the situation can lead to confl ict, and I analyze advisors'
work on environmental problems as a special case of boundary work,
where advisors walk a fi ne line between an established order of practice
and the possibility of social change (Gieryn 1983; 1995; 1999). Overall,
chapters 5 and 6 provide a detailed look at how repair works at the local
level and how this local work is integral to the maintenance of power.
Chapter 7 draws upon the preceding empirical chapters to further elabo-
rate my theoretical interest in the relationship between different kinds
of production, especially the interface of commodities, knowledge, and
power. I argue that the study of repair is broadly applicable to a range of
other cases, especially where the maintenance of power relations is a key
concern for actors. In addition, I explore the policy implications of this
work and end the chapter with a vision for how expertise could be deployed
to encourage more extensive change. I argue that farm advisors have an
advantageous position as locally based sources of expertise, but that they
are also limited by this position. Advisors need additional support from
the state or from other sources of leverage that can make their expertise
more widely available and effective at promoting change. Though addi-
tional (direct) governmental regulation is one way to give advisors more
power to infl uence change, I suggest that ethnographic accounts like mine
also play an important structural role in the process of social change.
