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Fall Seminar Series

Genetic Engineering and the Politics of Development in Ghana

Hybrid | This talk examines the development of, and debates around, genetically engineered crops in Ghana.

Joeva Sean Rock, PhD

Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stony Brook University | Profile

Dr. Joeva Sean Rock is an assistant professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University. Her research utilizes ethnographic methods and interdisciplinary collaborations to examine agricultural biotechnologies, the politics of development, and food sovereignty on the African continent. Dr. Rock’s research has been supported by Fulbright, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the British Academy. She is the author of We Are Not Starving: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Ghana (Michigan State University Press, 2022), and was the recipient of the 2019 Boahen-Wilks Outstanding Scholarly Article in Ghana Studies Prize.

Abstract

In this talk, I will present findings from my book, We Are Not Starving: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Ghana (Michigan State Press 2022). In the early 2000s, Ghana was one of the first countries targeted by a group of US donors and agribusiness corporations with an ambitious plan to develop genetically engineered (GE) crops for African farmers. The collective believed that GE crops would serve to sustainably increase yields and spark a “new” Green Revolution on the continent. Soon after the project began in Ghana, a nationwide food sovereignty movement emerged in opposition.

Today, despite impressive efforts and investments by proponents, the domestic development of GE crops has mostly stalled, with one exception. Why, after years of preparation, millions of dollars of funding, and multiple policy reforms, did these megaprojects effectively come to a halt? One of the first ethnographies to take on the question of GE crops in the African context, We Are Not Starving, blends archival analysis, interviews, and participant observation with Ghanaian scientists, farmers, activists, and officials.

The book argues that at its core, disagreement over GE crops in Ghana has little to do with agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability, and much more to do with debates over political and food sovereignty. By approaching food as a (contested) cultural object rather than a simple item for production and consumption, the book provides broad insight into the social realities of development and climate change, genetic engineering, and US foreign aid.

Related links:

• We Are Not Starving: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Ghana
• Bridging the gap? Public-private partnerships and genetically modified crop development for smallholder farmers in Africa
• Beyond the Genome: Genetically modified crops in Africa and the implications for Genome Editing
• The Complex Choreography of Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa
• The scientific narrative around new food technologies needs to change
• Download seminar poster

The Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Colloquium is a seminar series that brings in speakers to present and stimulate discussion on a variety of topics related to existing and proposed biotechnologies and their place within broader societal changes.

GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Dawn Rodriguez-Ward and Katie Barnhill, who you may contact with any class-specific questions. Colloquium meets weekly on Tuesdays from 12-1 pm via Zoom, with national/international guests joining us remotely, and local in-person guests every other week in the 1911 Building, room 129.

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