Heritage experiences in the Central Argentina’s dairy production region. Dairy farmers’ assessments oftangible and intangible assets

Abstract

In recent decades, heritage assets began to motivate discussions in relation to their role in development and territorial planning policies. In this framework, the considerations made from the perspective of local social actors in the assessment of this set of resources are still incipient. This article will seek to account for certain experiences around the tangible and intangible heritage existing in the Central Argentina’s dairy production region that focus on the environment of dairy farming and on the relationships built among the individuals in a group regarding its assets. In order to do this, a qualitative methodology was employed, and a series of interviews conducted for the doctoral researchthesis that motivated this writing were retrieved. In the processing of the data obtained, an attempt was made to find a common thread that would merge the different stories into a single one, and that would make it possible to determine bridges between the heritage experiences and the features of local culture. The findings determined the grouping of tangible resources, on the one hand, and of traditionalist assets, on the other. However, both formed parts of the same synthesis in the conclusions. Two considerations stand out in this investigation: the discovery of economic and utilitarian assessment -though with no considerations from an aesthetic dimension-, and the summoned group’s assignment of testimonial roles to certain paradigmatic elements of the regional heritage, such as dairy, family and rural work.