Politics of knowledge and non-knowledge: Agricultural biotechnology in India

这一研究项目旨在从空间角度调查印度最近的农业生物技术政治化。总体而言，该项目涉及以下关键问题：(1)哪些科学机构参与了印度农业生物技术知识的生产，哪些行为者影响了正在进行的关于促进、控制和限制基因工程的政治谈判？(2)现有哪些科学和技术工具可以将农业生物技术的概念从一个地方转移到另一个地方，政治行为者以何种方式促进或阻碍相关知识和非知识的传播？(3)生物技术公司如何通过卖家和推广服务参与者将农业生物技术的科学概念转移到印度农民的生活世界？该项目将审查关于农业生物技术的科学知识和非知识的多元化，以及影响印度正在进行的关于基因工程应用的谈判的政治网络。它将研究科学、技术和政治工具，将科学知识和非知识从一个背景转移到另一个背景。它将分析如何让农民理解科学知识，以及如何将农民的情境知识转移回科学辩论中。通过将科学和技术研究的概念整合到发展地理学中，将有可能在印度目前关于基因工程的公开辩论中确定知识和非知识政治的基本机制。这些机制将对未来研究印度及其他地区的技术变革具有指导意义。

This research project aims to investigate the recent politicization of agricultural biotechnology in India from a spatial perspective. Overall, the project deals with the following key questions: (1) Which scientific institutions are involved in the production of agro-biotechnological knowledge in India and which actors shape the ongoing political negotiations on the promotion, control, and restriction of genetic engineering? (2) What scientific and technical instruments exist to transfer concepts of agricultural biotechnology from one place to another, and in which ways do political actors promote or hinder the travelling of relevant knowledge and non-knowledge? (3) How do biotechnological companies, by means of sellers and extension service actors, transfer scientific concepts of agricultural biotechnology into the life-worlds of farmers in India? The project will examine the pluralization of scientific knowledge and non-knowledge about agricultural biotechnology, as well as the political networks that shape ongoing negotiations on the application of genetic engineering in India. It will study the scientific, technical, and political tools to transfer scientific knowledge and non-knowledge from one context to another. And it will analyze how scientific knowledge is made intelligible to farmers and how the situated knowledge of farmers is transferred back into the scientific debate. By integrating concepts from Science and Technology Studies into Development Geography, it will be possible to identify basic mechanisms of the politics of knowledge and non-knowledge in the current public debate about genetic engineering in India. These mechanisms will be instructive for future studies on technological transformations in India and beyond.