Seeds in Translation

From Multispecies Environments into Frozen Assets

Bibliographic Data

ID22186671
AuthorsAnnukka Paajanen (0009-0005-4224-6011, University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume3
Issue1
Pages20-38
Publication date2024-04-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
Venueinterconnections journal of posthumanism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2564-260X • E-ISSN: 2564-260X
PublisherBrock University Library (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.26522/posthumanismjournal.v3i1.4365
OpenAlexW4411540831
LanguageEN
References cited10

Ex situ seed banks are presented as a major solution to the decline in agricultural crop diversity and the consequent threats to food security. As the current organization of human-crop relations fuels global warming, biodiversity loss and other environmental problems, this paper explores the logic of its legitimization through a critical reading of textual material concerning the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a “backup” facility for the world’s crop diversity. Building on Anna Tsing’s use of translation, the paper demonstrates how seeds become assets in the SGSV’s practices. The paper draws on feminist/posthumanist research on human-plant relations and suggests that the SGSV’s strategy relies on translating diverse ways of human-crop life into a “one-size-fits-all” model which capitalizes on interspecies bonds. By making visible inequalities ­produced in the process, the paper argues for a need to (re)consider existing conservation arrangements, to obstruct environmental devastation and to make conservation more purposeful and just

Agricultural biodiversity · Agriculture · Backup · Biodiversity · Biology · Economics · Environmental resource management · Food security · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Ecology

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