Orientation and Crafted Bureaucracy: Finding Dignity in Nicaraguan Food Safety

Abstract

This article explores how food-safety inspectors (hygienistas) in Nicaragua monitor and certify foodservice workers and facilities. While inspectors are well versed in sanitary law, they describe their job not as law enforcement but as "orientation." Orientation integrates state regulation with interpersonal exchanges of gifts and jokes, which reinforce unwritten social norms. Such interpersonal exchanges are not simply signs of corruption or governmental incapacity. Rather, orientation is a form of "crafted bureaucracy": a pragmatic effort to ensure both the quality of food and the quality of governmental encounters. Orientation allows inspectors and food producers to reconcile memories of Nicaragua's revolutionary past with anxieties about the country's more recent integration into a global food economy. While effective surveillance is at stake in orientation, dignity is also at stake. When orientation is successful, the dignity of both bureaucrats and food workers is temporarily affirmed. When orientation fails, their dignity is at risk. [public health, hygiene, medical anthropology, infrastructure, Latin America] RESUMEN Este artículo explora cómo los inspectores de la seguridad de alimentos (higienistas) en Nicaragua monitorean y certifican a los trabajadores y las instalaciones de los servicios de alimentos. Mientras los inspectores son bien versados en las leyes sanitarias, describen su trabajo no cómo de hacer cumplir la ley sino como de "orientación". La orientación integra la regulación del estado con intercambios interpersonales de regalos y chistes, lo cual refuerza normas sociales no escritas. Tales intercambios interpersonales no son simplemente signos de corrupción o incapacidad gubernamental. Más bien, la orientación es una forma de "burocracia elaborada": un esfuerzo pragmático para asegurar tanto la calidad de los alimentos como la calidad de los encuentros gubernamentales.La orientación le permite a los inspectores de los productores de alimentos conciliar las memorias del pasado revolucionario de Nicaragua con las ansiedades acerca de la más reciente integración del país en la economía global de alimentos. Mientras la vigilancia efectiva está en juego en la orientación, la dignidad también está en juego.Cuando la orientación es exitosa, la dignidad tanto de burócratas como de trabajadores de alimentos es ratificada temporalmente. Cuando la orientación falla, su dignidad está en riesgo. [salud pública, higiene, antropología médica, infraestructura, América Latina]

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