Technological Transfer and Forest Conservation in the Industrialization of Pine Resin in the Sierra de Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

This article analyzes technological and environmental facets of the process of pine resin industrialization during the 20^th century in the Sierra de Tapalpa, southern Jalisco. The aim is to elucidate the processes of European technology transfer -from above- and the response of the forests and their inhabitants, from below. The theoretical and methodological framework is of a techno-environmental type that recognizes the relation between production and consumption in the technological configuration, and the agency of, and associations between, the human and non-human actors involved. The study reached three conclusions: 1) technology transfer, in addition to being a politicized issue, had cultural effects; 2) the conflicts detected were not motivated by technological imposition, but by the establishment of ejidos and the consequent disputes over resin vs. timber production, a dilemma that did not exist prior to this industrialization process; and 3) despite deficiencies in the implementation of the European technique and the absence of forestry management, the forests were preserved in the long term.