Doctoral Dissertation Research: Science and Transnational Activism - The Controversy over Genetically Modified Maize in Mexico

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Science and Transnational Activism: The Controversy over Genetically Modified Maize in MexicoAbby J. Kinchy, PhD CandidateDepartments of Sociology and Rural SociologyUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonPROJECT ABSTRACTHow do transnational social movements mobilize people to protest the invisible threats of new technology, such as radiation, toxic pollution, or genetic contamination of crops? Do these movements depend on scientific expertise, or do they challenge traditional power relations between certified experts and laypeople? This dissertation project will reconstruct sociological theories about science and social protest through an extended case study of collective action against genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico. Scientific debates over the potential effects of "transgene flow"-the cross-pollination of GM crops with their unmodified crop relatives-have recently erupted into an intense public controversy. A transnational network of activists has mobilized to protest the importation of GM corn to Mexico and to demand the protection of native maize varieties. As in many controversies over new technology and the environment, political protest is closely connected to scientific debates, and at various points, activists and farmers have become directly involved in collecting and evaluating scientific data. This project will expand and refine sociological theories of the cognitive dimensions of social movements by answering three main research questions: 1) How do movement participants evaluate the claims of scientists and develop beliefs about the occurrence and effects of transgene flow? 2) Under what circumstances do movement participants contribute to or transform scientific debates about transgene flow? How do their opponents attempt to exclude them? 3) Do social relations within the activist network reproduce global power relations and a conventional lay-expert divide, or does the network challenge those power relations? Research methods will include seven months of ethnographic research (participant observation and interviews) in Mexico City and Oaxaca, Mexico and three months of interviews and documentary analysis in the United States. Approximately seventy individuals will be interviewed, including farmers, professional activists, policymakers and scientists. This study offers a valuable opportunity to specify the ways in which social movements act as knowledge producers and to reconstruct and refine existing theories about the relationship between science and collective action. Beyond contributions to sociological theory, the project has important social and political implications. The debate about Mexican maize raises crucial questions about transformations in the global food system and the rights of farmers and consumers to protect their livelihoods and food traditions. To facilitate a broad public impact, planned publications include a dissertation as well as several scholarly and popular articles. In Mexico, findings will be shared in the form of popular articles and a public presentation in Spanish. This project will also cultivate networks and partnerships between U.S. and Mexican researchers.