ABSTRACT
Powerless, poor, unfree, oppressed, socially isolated, deferential, disorganized and subordinated are some of the terms that the extensive, pessimistic social science literature uses to characterize the asymmetry of farmworkers’ power/knowledge relations. Academic texts and especially everyday reflection see the achievement of power/knowledge positions as mysterious. These positions are presented as pre-arranged moves, secrets, privilege obtained through strategies. In this chapter, the author construct contexts for dynamic analysis of power/knowledge relations in various interactions. He discusses the problematic nature of power/knowledge relations based on the analysis of two situations of the type Long calls ‘social interfaces’. The first is forgotten story which certain workers occasionally recall among friends. The second situation emerged during my fieldwork and caught my attention because it called for a deeper review of technological change’s local effects. A middle-level skilled worker ridiculed international drip irrigation expert precisely when the author was instructing the bosses and professionals about the advantages of cutting-edge technology and how to operate new equipment.
