Agricultural Futures - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 846

Participantsalsorelectedontheirownpositions—bothasexpertsandascitizens
from particular places, and how their origins, ethnicity, gender, and experience were
intimately bound up with their contributions as experts. As one African author, a
middle-classuniversitylecturerinZimbabwewhowastrainedintheUKbutwhocame
originallyfromaruralhomeinafarmingarea,observed: “YesI amaneconomist,but
I amalsofromAfrica,andI amawoman.I havelivedintheseplaces,andexperienced
the life of farming in a dryland setting.”11 Of course, much politically correct talk is asso-
ciatedwiththeIAASTDaboutSouthernperspectivesandinvolvement,but,inpractice,
theSouthernerswhogetalook-inaresometimesaselite—intheirlifestyles,outlooks,
andinluences—asmanyoftheirNortherncounterparts.Doeslivingbehindrazorwire
in a smart suburb of Harare or Nairobi provide special access and insights? Or is this
justanotherofmanydiferent“livedcitizenships”thatareratherselectivelyaddedto
themix?hus,inpeople'sownexperiencesoftheIAASTDamultiplicationofidenti-
ties, types of affiliation, and forms of solidarity are apparent. A fragmented and contin-
gentnotionofcitizenshipisrealizedthroughsuchexperiences—constitutingthewider
politicalactionthatthisimplies(LeachandScoones2006).
heprofessedaimoftheIAASTDwastoinvolveamorediversegroupofexpertise
than would be usual in a conventional approach, and a very conscious effort was made
to be inclusive; however, in the end, it was deliberation on the basis of scientific evidence
that would be the key. Thus, an interesting contradiction occurred in the simultaneous
talk of engagement and involvement of diverse, multi-stakeholder perspectives and its
confrontationwiththeidealofconsensusandanappealtoauniversalizedobjectivityof
scienceandexpertise: theultimateglobalvision.Otenthistensionwasnotaddressed
and led to some underlying challenges such that knowledge politics and power relations
failedtobeconfronted,resultinginsomemajorfudges.Yet,inamorepragmatictone,
one participant commented:
Perhaps for the first time, different constituencies had to wrestle with the evidence
and experiences that inform a point of view. These could no longer be dismissed
as simply differing ideologies or power gradients. We all had to put our trust in the
IAASTDprinciples.hehardpartwasgettingallcontributorstobeaccountableto
them.12
Confronting Controversy: GM Crops
Butwhathappenedwhenpeopledisagreed—onscience,onvalues,andonpolitics?
PerhapsinevitablythebiggestcontroversythatdoggedtheIAASTDprocesswasthat
surroundingGM(geneticallymodiiedand,speciically,transgenic)crops.Whenthe
assessmentwasproposedin2002,thisissueengenderedaragingdebate,particularly
inEuropeandacrossNGOandcivilsocietygroupsaroundtheworld(Scoones2002).
While some from mainstream scientific institutions and biotechnology corporations