Technological Change, Society, and Development in Argentina's Agricultural Sector, 1860-1940

FAIN: FT-61504-14

Yovanna Pineda
University of Central Florida Board of Trustees (Orlando, FL 32816-8005)

My proposed monograph is an interdisciplinary project that examines the humanistic dimensions of technological change through the transatlantic transfer of farm machinery between the receiver developing nation, Argentina, and the exporter, developed nations--principally the United Kingdom and the United States--between 1860 and 1940. This project uses diverse methods and sources to broaden the scholarly understanding of technological transfer. It contributes to the understanding of the international and collaborative role that technology played in forming and changing societies. It challenges the commonly accepted beliefs that developing nations were not prepared for developed technologies and lacked the resources to develop technological capabilities. Instead, it will show how technology was shaped within Argentina because of a host of complex factors, such as local culture, politics, and economic choices.

Media Coverage

Visita de una investigadora de la historia de la cosechadora (Media Coverage)
Publication: http://diariolaopinion.com.ar/
Date: 7/12/2016
URL: http://diariolaopinion.com.ar/noticia/154383/visita-de-una-investigadora-de-la-historia-de-la-cosechadora

Associated Products

Historical Perspective on Social Innovation and Resilience (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Historical Perspective on Social Innovation and Resilience
Author: Yovanna Pineda
Abstract: I examine invention patent data, oral and family histories to piece together the stories of the social impact of technological innovations on farming communities in Argentina in the late nineteenth and early centuries. Argentine farmers learned how to design machinery from the European and American machinery imported into their country. By the early twentieth century, foreigners were also learning from the Argentine farmers’ patented inventions of designs of motors for tractors and combines.
Date: 12/01/2015
Conference Name: Third Expert Workshop of the Trans-Atlantic Platform, Social Sciences and Humanities

Foreign and Domestic Patenting of Farm Technologies in Argentina: Evidence from Patent Records, 1866-1914 (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Foreign and Domestic Patenting of Farm Technologies in Argentina: Evidence from Patent Records, 1866-1914
Author: Yovanna Pineda
Abstract: I presented a global perspective of technology transfer and foreign patenting, using Argentina as a case study from 1866 to 1914. I focus on the technological transfer and patents of farm machinery and tools. My principal research questions are: How effective were imported technologies and techniques once they arrived in a farming region? Did these foreign technologies lead to new and local patented inventions or innovations? My hypothesis is that the introduction of foreign machinery did not lead to patented domestic inventions and innovations. I examine two practices that might explain the limit to patented new inventions in farm machinery in this agro-exporting country. First, foreign manufacturers took out patents on their machinery imported to Argentina. Second, foreign companies oftentimes purchased from local farmers the patented modifications specific to their machinery, tools, and techniques. I created two new data sets on the importation of agricultural machinery and tools to Argentina from 1880* to 1914 and a patent data set of nearly 12,000 patent records from 1866 to 1914 to develop and test my hypothesis. My methods include archival research of manuscript and published documents, systematic coding of invention patent records and trade data, and an interdisciplinary approach to the history of technological transfer.
Date: 08/03/2015
Conference Name: World Economic History Conference

Technology in Latin America’s Past and Present: New Evidence from the Patent Records (Article)
Title: Technology in Latin America’s Past and Present: New Evidence from the Patent Records
Author: Yovanna Pineda
Author: Edward Beatty
Author: Patricio Saíz
Abstract: In spite of important recent work on the history of technology and the dynamics of technological change in Latin America, the literature in this field remains relatively undeveloped. In part, this is due to a relative scarcity of available sources for research. This research note argues that national patenting records offer an important and as yet untapped source for a wide range of studies on technology and technological change. It announces the creation of major new comprehensive data sets of patent records in several Latin American countries, part of a larger, ongoing project to compile and make publically accessible patenting records across the region. We provide an introduction to the history of patents in Latin America, followed by a discussion of the use (and misuse) of patents as historical evidence and recent advances in collecting and using patent evidence in Latin America.
Year: 2017
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Latin American Research Review
Publisher: Latin American Research Review

History of Science (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: History of Science
Author: Yovanna Pineda
Abstract: In this History of Science course, we analyze the global scientific events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that have had major social and cultural impact in Latin America, the United States, Asia, and Western/Eastern Europe. Such events include Darwin’s theory of natural selection, Eugenics, the “Nuclear Age,” food science, reproductive science, computer science, climate and hydrology science.
Year: 2016
Audience: Undergraduate

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