Vegetal cultivation is vital to human flourishing. Yet the ecological devastation caused by the agroindustry shows that the multiple existences of domesticated plants remain underestimated. The SeedsValues furthers mainstream assessment in economic terms, by shedding light on the ethical engagements and affective attachments that incentivise farmers to perpetuate lively agriculture. Therefore, it will produce ethnographies of seed-human companionship in three agrobiodiversity hotspots: potato chacras in Peru, maize milpas in Mexico and rice paddies in Laos. In each setting, agricultural relations in highland plots intended for self-consumption will be compared with lowland intensive plantations.
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About Flourishing Seeds
Research Topic
Agriculture condenses the most pressing challenges humans are facing today: demographic explosion, market instabilities and environmental exhaustion.
Fieldsites
The SeedsValues involves a team of researchers who will ethnographically document seed practices in Peru, Mexico, and Laos, agrodiversity hotspots of the potato, maize, and rice respectively.
Theoretical approach
This project uses anthropological theory and interspecies ethnographic methodology to disentangle the manifold values of seeds and seedlings.
Team
The SeedsValues team is composed of three duos carrying ethnographic investigation in the higlands and lowlands of Cuzco, Oaxaca and Luang Prabang.