In 1996 Argentina adopted genetically modified (GM) soybeans as a central part of its national development strategy. Today, Argentina is the third largest global grower and exporter of GM crops. Its soybeans-which have been modified to tolerate being sprayed with herbicides-now cover half of the country's arable land and represent a third of its total exports. While soy has brought about modernization and economic growth, it has also created tremendous social and ecological harm: rural displacement, concentration of landownership, food insecurity, deforestation, violence, and the negative health effects of toxic agrochemical exposure. In Seeds of Power Amalia Leguizamon explores why Argentines largely support GM soy despite the widespread damage it creates. She reveals how agribusiness, the state, and their allies in the media and sciences deploy narratives of economic redistribution, scientific expertise, and national identity as a way to elicit compliance among the country's most vulnerable rural residents. In this way, Leguizamon demonstrates that GM soy operates as a tool of power to obtain consent, to legitimate injustice, and to quell potential dissent in the face of environmental and social violence.

About the Author
Amalia Leguizamon is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Tulane University.

Reviews
"Clearly written and superbly argued, this fabulous book manages to accomplish that quite difficult task of engaging readers interested in the specificities of the case and those interested in larger theoretical issues. Seeds of Power is so well written that it puts readers in the different scenes, making us think about the invisible workings of power and about the ways in which we can go about detecting the daily production of political domination. Brava!" -- Javier Auyero, coauthor of * In Harm's Way: The Dynamics of Urban Violence *
"Making important contributions to sociology while remaining highly accessible, Seeds of Power has the potential to reach beyond the ivory tower and to teach and influence the public. It is a beautiful example of public sociology." -- Shannon Elizabeth Bell, author of * Fighting King Coal: The Challenges to Micromobilization in Central Appalachia *
"Leguizamon presents a thoughtful, well-argued, and clearly presented book grounded in the intersection of culture, economics, and history that is fitting for both academic and non-academic audiences." -- Stephen J. Scanlan * Social Forces *
"In her excellent book, Seeds of Power, Amalia Leguizamon has focused on less-studied social groups as well as subaltern rural peoples.... Hers is a rare academic book that is accessible yet theoretically sophisticated." -- Mario L. Cardozo * Journal of Latin American Geography *
"Seeds of Power offers important insights on the complex dynamics of power and compliance and how they can play out in a broad national context.... It offers an exceptional mix of scholarship and storytelling, and deserves to be widely read." -- Brian Tokar * CounterPunch *
"Seeds of Power will be very useful for social scientists working at the intersection of rural studies, environmental justice and social science. In addition, it is elegantly written, in such a way that no prior academic knowledge is required to appreciate its content." -- Pierre Delvenne * Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies *
"Leguizamon . . . engages with sociological discussions of risk and environmental justice to focus her study on those who bear the unequal weight of the Argentinian soy boom. . . . [Seeds of Power] offer[s] novel perspectives on the relationship of the soy complex to broader political configurations." -- Matthew Abel * Nature Plants *
"Seeds of Power breaks new ground . . . by revealing the intersection of class, gender, race/ethnicity, and rural/urban inequalities in the political economy and political culture that renders the environmental injustice associated with soybean expansion in Argentina invisible. . . . Books like this [are] not only necessary but urgent." -- Renata Motta * American Journal of Sociology *
"Leguizamon's Seeds of Power is a beautifully written, nuanced, complex, yet easy to read and honest look at the heart of Argentina's soy producing region, the Pampas." -- Zoe W. Brent * Journal of Agrarian Change *



Book Information
ISBN 9781478010852
Author Amalia Leguizamon
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 318g