Biopiracy in India: Seed diversity and the scramble for knowledge

ConclusionThe paper concludes that given the roots of biopiracy in colonial legacies, forms of resistance may need to appropriate colonialist epistemologies. One example of such appropriation is Vandana Shiva's own campaign, which casts seed ownership in the imagery and rhetoric of Mahatma Gandhi's fight against British colonialism in India. Finally, the article ends by suggesting that issues of biopiracy need to be seen in larger context. Drawing on the work of cultural philosopher Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht, it argues that the problem of the twenty-first century may be a scramble for natural resources such as the right for clean water. Biopiracy is hence far from a debate linked only to specific cases in particular locales, but is part of a global epistemological and political framework, which has systematically disenfranchised communities of color and countries of the global South.

Source: Phytomedicine - October 27, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research