Doctoral Dissertation Research: Genetically Modified Vegetables: Transgenic Agriculture, Contested Knowledge, and Democratic Practice

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Project Overview This STS Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant will support research to examine how scientific knowledge claims about transgenic (i.e., genetically modified) food crops are produced and contested, and how different knowledge claims and associated interests clash at informal and formal sites of democratic functions. The project will focus on the development of policies concerning transgenic vegetables in India. Intellectual MeritThe researcher will use a combination of ethnographic methods (participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, and life history information) and archival research; multiple sites will be studied including vegetable farms in west India, transgenic research labs of private seed companies in west India, and anti-transgenic non-governmental organizations in New Delhi. Key issues concerning transgenic vegetables are to be addressed in the study including knowledge production about conservation and safety, deliberative decision-making, and questions concerning national food security and food sovereignty. Broader ImpactsThe results of this study will illuminate how democracy works in practice, with particular attention towards the convergence or divergence of policy making for transgenic food crops from the standpoint of the ideals of participation and accountability. The study can inform policies concerning food security and food sovereignty by uncovering how difficult political questions are actually negotiated in the lives of participants in science and democracy.