Social mobility at last?

In many ways, barbasco seems to parallel coca. Both were used as a method of making revolutionary medicine. Both were sources of national pride in Mexico and Peru, respectively. Both were toted as the key to modernization. And both held onto some kind of national monopoly in its production. Yet where coca and cocaine led to ruination and marginalization of the native peasants, barbasco seemed to do the opposite; it actually seemed to propel both Mexican nationalism and the common folk.

One key to the mobility, Laveaga asserts, lies in the de-festishing of the yam. In layman's terms, people knew what it was used for. As she demonstrates, those who at least had a working knowledge of what the yam was used for (some kind of medicine rather than an ingredient of soap) had an unspoken advantage over those who were still ignorant. As an example (pg 112), a group of farmers are shown, having absorbed the basics of steroid production, were able to get back on the market after their previous crops had been rejected. In short, there was the possibility of genuine advancement in the industry, especially since the Mexican government was so keen to train biologists to study the plant.

That said, there did seem to be a few strings attached. Bear in mind that this advancement and knowledge only came about when Mexican scientists were on the scene. And they weren't deployed everywhere in the jungle. Laveaga admits this point, noting that advancement didn't occur everywhere in the jungles. Additionally, as Brandon alluded to, the Mexican government only seemed willing to immortalize the common folk when their interests were threatened. It wasn't until the boom of the 50s went sour for everyone in the country did the barbasco and the men who harvested it become politicized. While president Echeverria begin to "curtail the number of permits given to transnational laboratories that 'for decades have exploited' Mexican peasants" (pg 123), I did not see United Fruit levels of mistreatment. Indeed, for a long period, most of the barbasco was handled and processed by nationalized Mexican companies. If there was any mistreatment of the peasants, I would say that it was at the hands of the middlemen who collected the yams.