Language about Agroecological Practices: The Emergence of a Linguistic Market in Post-Soviet Cuba

Abstract

Following the collapse of socialist bloc in the late 1980s, Cuba’s agricultural paradigm underwent a dramatic transition from conventional to agroecological practices. In part, this transition relied on shifting the research focus of the Cuban government toward alternative and sustainable modes of agriculture, and placing greater emphasis on local farmer knowledge and participation. This paper proposes that the changing knowledge base that has accompanied Cuba’s agroecological paradigm has given rise to the emergence of markets of symbolic power (in the Bourdieu sense). In particular, a linguistic market that revolves around "spreading" the message and practice of agroecology, and that accrues various forms of social and linguistic capital has developed. Ultimately, I argue that the language about agroecological practices in Cuba can be considered in terms of what Bourdieu calls the "unification" of a linguistic market.