A landscape of transculturation: the cattle ranches of Bovril's Argentine estates

Abstract

This paper addresses the construction of livestock territory on the Argentine River Plate coast based on a study of the ranch system of the British company Bovril Ltd (1909-1972), dedicated to the production of canned meat. It argues that this territorial complex was not imposed tabula rasa, but rather a process of material transculturation in which British rationality negotiated with local environmental capacities and livestock farming knowledge. Through the documentary analysis of company archives, historical cartography, and the survey of persistent structures, the concept of “landscape of transculturation” is operationalized as an analytical category. Three dimensions are identified: persistence of previous structures, technical adaptation of the foreign model, and incorporation of traditional knowledge in spatial management. The findings reveal a creative synthesis that articulated British vertical integration with local practices and technologies. The research contrasts this system with the subsequent soybeanization, showing how monoculture disrupted a productive mosaic in relative environmental balance. The contribution lies in validating a transferable methodological category for studying work landscapes and proposing their heritage value as a basis for land use strategies that recover productive diversification and environmental sustainability.