Continuidad y discontinuidad en la construcción de nicho: hacia una lectura política del proceso de domesticación
Abstract
ThevariationunderdomesticationhasbeenstudiedbyevolutionarybiologysincethebeginningoftheDarwinistresearchprogramme,highlightingartificialselectionasapartofthedevelopmentoftheconceptofnaturalselection.Recently,nicheconstructiontheoryhasbeenusedtoanalyzetheprocessofdomesticationwhichhashistoricallybeenpartofsociallifeforhumanbeings.Inthepresentworkwemakeanapproachtotheimplicationsofartificialselectionasanelementinthelineofdialecticaltensionbetweennatureandsociety.WeanalyzefromaMarxistperspectivetheelementsofcontinuityanddiscontinuitythatthereproductionofa“secondnature”introducesintheprocessofnicheconstruction.Wefocusonthepoliticdimensionofusevalue(Echeverría2001)asanemergingprocessinthere-productionofasocialandculturalidentityinhumansocieties.Inthisworkwefocusondomesticatedplants.Theexistenceofatelosorsubjacentintentionalityconfiguresdistinctivefeaturesofhumannicheconstruction(Zeder2009)andcentrallyofartificialselection.Thereproductionofasecondnatureisdirectedbyateloswhichisnotonlynornecessarilyrelatedtothemagnitudeofresourcesappropriatedbyhumanbeings,butalsotothegenerationofusevalueadaptedtoacertainformofsociallifethatisrecreatedandgivenplace:apoliticdimension.