Bases for a Sociological Approach to Illegal Hunting in Misiones Province (Argentina)

Abstract

The article examines the current characteristics of illegal hunting, taking into account the numerous variables involved, as well as the main types of hunting identified in the Misiones province (northeast Argentina). The multidimensionality of the illegal hunting over the past ten years is exposed in relation to this typological characterization. Above all, the most notorious configurations of the sets of economic, political, and cultural processes that surround Misiones as a triple international border region between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina are emphasized. The methodology used includes the geometric analysis of statistical data produced by government records of environmental infringement; and qualitative approaches through interviews with park rangers, ex-hunters, and farmers settled on the edges of Protected Natural Areas. Towards the end, the main advances of the analysis are synthesized, emphasizing the regularities identified as starting points for new sociological research on illegal hunting.