Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Contestations and Genetically Modified Crops In a Non-Western Context

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SES- 1602495Jill HarrisonJessie K. LunaUniversity of Colorado at BoulderThis dissertation research will add to our understanding of the polarized debates over the role of genetically engineered crops in development. This project seeks to understand the social and cultural dimensions of peoples' practices and understandings of genetically engineered crops. In doing so, it will shed light on the reasons why some actors have embraced or benefited from biotech crops, whereas others have not, and why there are differences in how things play out "on the ground" as opposed to "in theory." The study examines the role of social and cultural practices in the adoption (and sometimes rejection) of genetically engineered cotton in the West African country of Burkina Faso, one of the only African countries currently growing genetically engineered crop. Research findings will help contribute to regional policy regarding agricultural development.This research builds on academic literatures that studies the privatization of nature - including seeds. It asks how the logics associated with genetically modified seeds intersect with non-Western and non-neoliberal logics. Using tools from Science and Technology Studies, the research will ask how the logics of neoliberal nature "travel" and encounter cultural friction and transformation. The co-PI will collect qualitative data from interviews and participant observation with researchers, civil society actors, cotton extension agents, cotton farmers of different class positions, and rural women. The research will use iterative and comparative analysis to identify zones of transformation, conflict, or resistance. The researcher will examine cultural narratives and identity claims, as well as peoples' changing interactions with ecological landscapes. These findings will ultimately shed light on how processes of capitalist expansion both shape and are shaped by non-economic and non-Western logics.