Fences in the borderland: technique, landscape and the architectures of domestication in the Brazilian-Uruguayan Pampa

Abstract

Recent perspectives on domestication have emphasized the importance of technical objects and other environmental elements as mediators of the relations between humans, animals and the many landscapes they inhabit. Using the concept of “architecture of domestication”, proposed by Anderson and others (2017), this article investigates the role of alambrados (wire and wooden fences) in the context of animal husbandry in the Brazilian-Uruguayan Pampa, the technical processes involved in their construction, as well as the new configurations and uses for these structures that have emerged along with the biological invasion of European wild boars (Sus scrofa) in the region. I will show that the alambrados are key elements in the difference between positive direct action and negative indirect action in relation to the animals of the herd within the Pampeano system of domestication.