What happened to the subjects? Questions about mezcal

Abstract

Mezcal is a Mexican agave spirit that has helped to create a sense of authenticity among global consumers, significantly increasing its presence on the world market. This has led to a great expansion of the production areas included in the Denomination of Origin, changing its artisanal forms of production and creating an ambiguous position for the subjects that produce this drink. The aim of this essay is to contribute a new theoretical perspective to the academic debate on the patrimonialisation of mezcal, incorporating analyses that focus on the issues behind the production of this emblematic beverage. It discusses the need to understand the productive dynamics of this predominantly rural beverage, based on an understanding of the relationships between subjects at different levels of the production chain. We have opted for a classical theoretical framework that dares to consider mezcal producers as peasants and that affirms the explanatory potential of revising the classics of peasant social theory in order to offer new insights into the problem of dispossession through the appropriation of the biocultural knowledge that underlies the production of mezcal.