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

Jill HarrisonJessie K.Luna of Colorado University at Boulder这篇论文的研究将有助于我们理解关于转基因作物在发育中的作用的两极分化的辩论。该项目旨在了解人们对转基因作物的做法和理解的社会和文化层面。通过这样做，它将阐明为什么一些行为者接受了生物技术作物或从生物技术作物中受益，而另一些行为者没有，以及为什么事情的发展方式存在差异，而不是“在理论上”。这项研究考察了社会和文化习俗在西非国家布基纳法索采用(有时甚至拒绝)转基因棉花方面的作用，布基纳法索是目前仅有的几个种植转基因作物的非洲国家之一。研究结果将有助于制定关于农业发展的区域政策。这项研究建立在研究包括种子在内的自然私有化的学术文献的基础上。它询问与转基因种子相关的逻辑如何与非西方和非新自由主义逻辑相交。使用科学和技术研究的工具，研究将询问新自由主义自然的逻辑是如何“旅行”的，并遇到文化摩擦和转型。联合PI将从与研究人员、公民社会行为者、棉花推广机构、不同阶级职位的棉农和农村妇女的访谈和参与者观察中收集定性数据。这项研究将使用迭代和比较分析来确定转型、冲突或阻力的区域。研究人员将研究文化叙事和身份主张，以及人们与生态景观不断变化的互动。这些发现最终将阐明资本主义扩张过程如何塑造非经济和非西方逻辑，以及如何被非经济和非西方逻辑塑造。

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.