The main objective of my dissertation is to analyze and compare the socio-ecological implications of the adoption of genetically modified (GM) seeds and alternative agroecological farming methods for farming communities in Alberta, Canada and Andhra Pradesh, India localities situated in contrasting geopolitical, socio-cultural, and structural-institutional contexts in the global economy. For this research, the adoption of GM canola in Alberta and GM cotton in Andhra Pradesh are used as comparative case studies to explore the qualitative impact of agricultural biotechnology on farming communities.
Many studies have examined the potential impact of GM crops, but few have looked beyond economic cost-benefit analysis. In this dissertation, I examine social and cultural aspects of farmer decision-making in the adoption of the new seed technology, farmer receptivity to new cropping methods, knowledge translation between laboratory and farmer, and the impact of global knowledge-based technology on local knowledge systems, socio-cultural practices, the nature-society relationship, and gender relations. I use a global ethnography methodology and draw on a series of field interviews with farmers to provide sociological insight into how global processes of the Gene Revolution impact different farming communities in different localities in the world-economy.
In this dissertation I argue that the debate about the new agricultural technologies (e.g. GM seeds), the environment and agrarian crises should not be narrowed to the question of new technologies per se. Rather it should be understood from an agrarian political ecology perspective articulating political economy (neoliberal governance at global, national and provincial levels, and the processes of dispossession of primary agricultural producers from their means and conditions of production), socio-cultural systems (the construction of hegemonic discourse about genetically modified organisms, agricultural deskilling, gender relations), and ecosystems (a process of mastering nature, monoculturization, environmental risks, metabolic rift) in the context of neoliberal globalization.
My fieldwork study of the Gene Revolution provides closer, more fine-grained research and analysis of its impacts with sensitivity to local class and status, gender and cultural issues, and the ways in which farmers technology adoption decisions can dramatically alter overall quality of life, local knowledge systems, community development, the sustainability of agriculture and the ecosystem itself.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/1369 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Kumbamu, Ashok |
| Contributors | Laxer, Gordon (Sociology), Gismondi, Michael (Integrated Studies), Athabasca University, Ikeda, Satoshi (Sociology), Concordia University, Epp, Roger (Political Science), Augustana Faculty, Hughes, Karen (Sociology), Otero, Gerardo (Sociology), Simon Fraser University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 4458491 bytes, application/pdf |
| Relation | Kumbamu, Ashok ( 2009). The Global Knowledge Encounter: A Sociological Analysis of the Introduction of Genetically Modified Seed in Warangal, India. International Social Science Journal 60 (195):25-36., Kumbamu, Ashok (2009). Subaltern Strategies and Autonomous Community Building: A Critical Analysis of the Network Organization of Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives in Andhra Pradesh. Community Development Journal 44 (July): 336-350., Kumbamu, Ashok (2007). Beyond Agricultural Deskilling and the Spread of Genetically Modified Cotton in Warangal. Current Anthropology 48 (6):891-893., Kumbamu, Ashok (2006). Ecological Modernization and the Gene Revolution: The Case Study of Bt Cotton in India. Capitalism Nature Socialism 17 (4):7-31, Kumbamu, Ashok (2008). Can the Peasantry Decide? A Sociological Study of the Adoption and Impact of Genetically Modified Seeds in Warangal, India. In Beyond the Global Village: Environmental Challenges Inspiring Global Citizenship, ed. Rafaela Hillerbrand and Rasmus Karlsson, 261-275. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press., Kumbamu, Ashok (2008). Ecological Modernization and the Gene Revolution: The Case Study of Bt Cotton in India. In Rural Development in India, ed. K.R. Gupta and Prasenjit Maiti, 71-106. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers. |
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