Genetic fallout in bio-cultural landscapes: Molecular imperialism and the cultural politics of (not) seeing transgenes in Mexico - Institut des sciences de la communication du CNRS
Journal Articles Social Studies of Science Year : 2014

Genetic fallout in bio-cultural landscapes: Molecular imperialism and the cultural politics of (not) seeing transgenes in Mexico

Abstract

This article explores the trajectory of the global controversy over the introgression (or not) of transgenes from genetically modified maize into Mexican indigenous maize landraces. While a plurality of knowledge-making processes were deployed to render transgenes visible or invisible, we analyze how a particular in-vitro based DNA-centred knowledge came to marginalize other forms of knowledge, thus obscuring other bio-cultural dimensions key to the understanding of gene flow and of maize diversity. We show that dominant molecular norms of proof and standards of detection, which co-developed with the world of industrial monocropping and gene patenting, discarded and externalized non-compliant actors (i.e. complex maize genomes, human dimensions of gene flow). Operating in the name of high-science, they hence obscured the complex biological and cultural processes that maintain crop diversity and enacted a cultural-political domination over the world of Mexican landraces and indigenous communities.
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Dates and versions

hal-02865725 , version 1 (11-06-2020)

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Christophe Bonneuil, Jean Foyer, Brian Wynne. Genetic fallout in bio-cultural landscapes: Molecular imperialism and the cultural politics of (not) seeing transgenes in Mexico. Social Studies of Science, 2014, 44 (6), pp.901-929. ⟨10.1177/0306312714548258⟩. ⟨hal-02865725⟩
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