Lo inacabado del Queso Paipa: materialidades orgánicas, actores diversos y valores heterogéneos

Abstract

This thesis analyses some of the discussions, negotiations, and tensions surrounding the Paipa Cheese as a local, artisanal, and traditional food. The analysis is made from the perspective of social agents aiming to position the concept of the product from its particular terroir, the central axis of the Designation of Origin (DO). The following questions guided this investigation: how do the different local agents from Paipa and Sotaquirá, who are involved in the implementation of the DO adopt and debate the notion of terroir? How do they build and use this notion based on their particular interest and role within the production chain? These questions are linked to two important paradoxes, each developed in a different chapter. The first paradox involves material and symbolic reinvention of Paipa Cheese. As discussed, the varied interpretations of the DO made by local actors are deeply ambivalent, since, while they seek to protect and add value to the singularity of the cheese and their products, they also promote the reinvention of it in the function of new demands (exigencies) and quality expectations. The second paradox suggests that the DO —far from being a neutral process —is influenced by the power relations that make its implementation a scene of complex and unfinished discussions. A scene where the final benefits are distributed unevenly, generating major questions around the inclusiveness associated with this type of certification.