Hobby Ranching and Chile's Land‐reform Legacy*

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Twentieth‐century land reform in Chile reflects familiar themes. The state subdivided large land monopolies, ostensibly for social justice reasons: to provide opportunities for campesinos to earn a living from agriculture. In southern Chile's Tierra del Fuego a combination of social justice, nationalism, and geopolitical concerns stimulated land reform between 1924 and 1978. The effort succeeded in creating a new material landscape oriented around smaller ranches but failed to meet its socioeconomic goals. In a scenario that resonates with reforms elsewhere in Latin America, an elitist cultural landscape dominated by large‐holding corporations was replaced with another elitist landscape, though in a different form. Politically well‐connected and essentially absentee landholders acquired subdivided land and began to practice “hobby ranching.” The history of land reform in Tierra del Fuego demonstrates how new socioeconomic conditions created over the course of many decades have left their imprint on land use and the biophysical landscape. It also contributes to larger regional debates about the role of land degradation in stocking‐rate decline.

• amenity migration
• Chile
• environmental history
• invasive weeds
• land degradation
• land tenure
• latifundio
• rangelands
• Tierra del Fuego

* Our research was funded by the Colgate University Research Council and California State University‐Long Beach. We gratefully acknowledge the help and shared expertise of our many colleagues in Chile, in particular Juan López Maldonado and his wife, Malvina, Pilar Andrea López Maldonado, Jorge López Maldonado, and Nilo Covacevich. We also thank Brent McCusker, Alistair‘ Fraser, Craig Colten, Austin Beahm, Doreen Jeffrey, Deirdre Miller, David Aagesen, Andrew Sluyter, and the anonymous reviewers.

1 Dr. Klepeis is an associate professor of geography at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York 13346.

2 Dr. Laris is an associate professor of geography at California State University–Long Beach, Long Beach, California 90840.

* Our research was funded by the Colgate University Research Council and California State University‐Long Beach. We gratefully acknowledge the help and shared expertise of our many colleagues in Chile, in particular Juan López Maldonado and his wife, Malvina, Pilar Andrea López Maldonado, Jorge López Maldonado, and Nilo Covacevich. We also thank Brent McCusker, Alistair‘ Fraser, Craig Colten, Austin Beahm, Doreen Jeffrey, Deirdre Miller, David Aagesen, Andrew Sluyter, and the anonymous reviewers.

1 Dr. Klepeis is an associate professor of geography at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York 13346.

2 Dr. Laris is an associate professor of geography at California State University–Long Beach, Long Beach, California 90840.

Notes

* Our research was funded by the Colgate University Research Council and California State University‐Long Beach. We gratefully acknowledge the help and shared expertise of our many colleagues in Chile, in particular Juan López Maldonado and his wife, Malvina, Pilar Andrea López Maldonado, Jorge López Maldonado, and Nilo Covacevich. We also thank Brent McCusker, Alistair‘ Fraser, Craig Colten, Austin Beahm, Doreen Jeffrey, Deirdre Miller, David Aagesen, Andrew Sluyter, and the anonymous reviewers.

1 Dr. Klepeis is an associate professor of geography at Colgate University, Hamilton, New York 13346.

2 Dr. Laris is an associate professor of geography at California State University–Long Beach, Long Beach, California 90840.