The Ontology and Epistemologies of a Plant : The cannabis community in Buenos Aires, Argentina
(2025)- Abstract
- Cannabis activism, which is embedded in Argentina’s broader tradition of social movements, has become a dynamic field of resistance and advocacy, particularly regarding medicinal cannabis, which came into focus in 2015. Indeed, the research for my thesis began by establishing contact with Mama Cultiva, a mothers’ organisation that played an active role in the creation of a new cannabis law and drafting subsequent regulations for medicinal marijuana. Through Mama Cultiva, I was introduced to the history of the cannabis movement and immersed in what I came to understand as a cannabis community with a culture centred around a particular plant – the cannabis plant.
Plants often surrounded me during meetings with interlocutors, whether in... (More) - Cannabis activism, which is embedded in Argentina’s broader tradition of social movements, has become a dynamic field of resistance and advocacy, particularly regarding medicinal cannabis, which came into focus in 2015. Indeed, the research for my thesis began by establishing contact with Mama Cultiva, a mothers’ organisation that played an active role in the creation of a new cannabis law and drafting subsequent regulations for medicinal marijuana. Through Mama Cultiva, I was introduced to the history of the cannabis movement and immersed in what I came to understand as a cannabis community with a culture centred around a particular plant – the cannabis plant.
Plants often surrounded me during meetings with interlocutors, whether in work or private environments. Observing how people spoke about the cannabis plant, I gradually became familiar with it as an entity whose agency was conveyed to me through its cultivators and users. The plant held significant meaning; it was spoken of and listened to with care, seen as a giving being that interacts throughout its life and beyond with those who grow and use it. In this sense, the plant is thought of as ‘alive and thinking’. Through these human–plant relationships, where a space of conviviality is created, the plant’s existence and attributes are translated into communitarian values, fostering a cannabis culture. The people I engaged with ranged from users and cultivators to activists working across policy, medical, and legal spheres. Each contributed to the tapestry of a cannabis community revolving around the plant, its ontology, and how it shapes values, connections, and epistemologies. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Cannabisaktivism, en del av Argentinas bredare tradition av sociala rörelser, har utvecklats till ett dynamiskt fält för motstånd och påverkansarbete – särskilt när det gäller medicinsk cannabis, som hamnade i fokus år 2015. Faktum är att min avhandling tog sin startpunkt i och med att jag etablerade kontakt med Mama Cultiva, en sammanslutning av mödrar, som spelade en aktiv roll i skapandet av en ny cannabislag och utformningen av regler för medicinsk marijuana. Genom Mama Cultiva introducerades jag till cannabisrörelsens historia och bjöds in till vad jag kom att förstå som en cannabisgemenskap med en kultur centrerad kring en särskild växt – cannabisväxten.
Växter omgav mig ofta under möten med mina samtalspartners, både i... (More) - Cannabisaktivism, en del av Argentinas bredare tradition av sociala rörelser, har utvecklats till ett dynamiskt fält för motstånd och påverkansarbete – särskilt när det gäller medicinsk cannabis, som hamnade i fokus år 2015. Faktum är att min avhandling tog sin startpunkt i och med att jag etablerade kontakt med Mama Cultiva, en sammanslutning av mödrar, som spelade en aktiv roll i skapandet av en ny cannabislag och utformningen av regler för medicinsk marijuana. Genom Mama Cultiva introducerades jag till cannabisrörelsens historia och bjöds in till vad jag kom att förstå som en cannabisgemenskap med en kultur centrerad kring en särskild växt – cannabisväxten.
Växter omgav mig ofta under möten med mina samtalspartners, både i arbetsmiljöer och privata sammanhang. Genom att observera hur människor talade om cannabisväxten blev jag gradvis bekant med den som en entitet, vars handlingskraft förmedlades till mig genom dess odlare och användare. Växten hade en djup betydelse; den talades om och lyssnades till med omsorg, betraktades som en generös varelse som interagerar under hela sitt liv och även därefter med dem som odlar och använder den. I detta avseende ses växten som ’levande och tänkande’. Genom dessa relationer mellan människa och växt, där ett utrymme för konvivialitet skapas, översätts växtens existens och egenskaper till gemensamma värden, vilket formar en cannabiskultur. De personer jag kom i kontakt med sträckte sig från användare och odlare till aktivister som arbetar inom politiska, medicinska och juridiska områden. Var och en bidrog till den framväxande cannabisgemenskapen kring växten, dess ontologi och hur den formar värderingar, relationer och kunskapssystem.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/83681a03-b70e-4ddb-9f6b-dc4e729dbc0d
- author
- Thompson, Amaranta LU
- supervisor
-
- Helle Rydström LU
- Diana Mulinari LU
- opponent
-
- Professor Burman, Anders, University of Gothenburg
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-08
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Argentina, Buenos Aires, cannabis, cannabis cultivation, cannabis plant, cannabis culture, decolonial theory, ethnography, intersectionality, medicinal cannabis, more-than-human, plant epistemologies, plant ontology
- pages
- 257 pages
- publisher
- Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden
- defense location
- Hörsalen (rum 104), Pufendorfinstitutet, Biskopsgatan 3, Lund
- defense date
- 2025-09-29 13:15:00
- ISBN
- 978-91-8104-625-0
- 978-91-8104-624-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 83681a03-b70e-4ddb-9f6b-dc4e729dbc0d
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-24 15:52:02
- date last changed
- 2025-09-01 14:05:41
@phdthesis{83681a03-b70e-4ddb-9f6b-dc4e729dbc0d,
abstract = {{Cannabis activism, which is embedded in Argentina’s broader tradition of social movements, has become a dynamic field of resistance and advocacy, particularly regarding medicinal cannabis, which came into focus in 2015. Indeed, the research for my thesis began by establishing contact with Mama Cultiva, a mothers’ organisation that played an active role in the creation of a new cannabis law and drafting subsequent regulations for medicinal marijuana. Through Mama Cultiva, I was introduced to the history of the cannabis movement and immersed in what I came to understand as a cannabis community with a culture centred around a particular plant – the cannabis plant.<br/>Plants often surrounded me during meetings with interlocutors, whether in work or private environments. Observing how people spoke about the cannabis plant, I gradually became familiar with it as an entity whose agency was conveyed to me through its cultivators and users. The plant held significant meaning; it was spoken of and listened to with care, seen as a giving being that interacts throughout its life and beyond with those who grow and use it. In this sense, the plant is thought of as ‘alive and thinking’. Through these human–plant relationships, where a space of conviviality is created, the plant’s existence and attributes are translated into communitarian values, fostering a cannabis culture. The people I engaged with ranged from users and cultivators to activists working across policy, medical, and legal spheres. Each contributed to the tapestry of a cannabis community revolving around the plant, its ontology, and how it shapes values, connections, and epistemologies.}},
author = {{Thompson, Amaranta}},
isbn = {{978-91-8104-625-0}},
keywords = {{Argentina; Buenos Aires; cannabis; cannabis cultivation; cannabis plant; cannabis culture; decolonial theory; ethnography; intersectionality; medicinal cannabis; more-than-human; plant epistemologies; plant ontology}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Media-Tryck, Lund University, Sweden}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{The Ontology and Epistemologies of a Plant : The cannabis community in Buenos Aires, Argentina}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/226117405/Lucia_Amaranta_Thompson_Thesis.pdf}},
year = {{2025}},
}