The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility
The article analyzes the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as a specific security technology created to deal with the ecological threat of biodiversity loss. Built in 2008 inside the Arctic Circle, the SGSV serves as a backup for 1,700 agricultural gene banks around the world. If seed collections ar...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0967010620912961 2024-10-20T14:07:05+00:00 The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility Wolff, Leon 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0967010620912961 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0967010620912961 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0967010620912961 en eng SAGE Publications https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Security Dialogue volume 52, issue 1, page 79-95 ISSN 0967-0106 1460-3640 journal-article 2020 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010620912961 2024-10-08T04:10:33Z The article analyzes the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as a specific security technology created to deal with the ecological threat of biodiversity loss. Built in 2008 inside the Arctic Circle, the SGSV serves as a backup for 1,700 agricultural gene banks around the world. If seed collections are lost due to natural disasters or human error, the gene banks can request copies of their varieties from Svalbard and restore their collections to continue the endeavour of plant breeding. The article focuses on the particular temporal politics expressed in the SGSV. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s reflections on time, it is argued that the SGSV opens up the possibility of reversing events by expanding the duration of the present. By separating seeds from their ecological connections on the one hand and controlling their metabolic processes through the use of cold on the other, an enduring temporal zone is created that allows modern society to control the unpredictable and irreversible dynamics of life and undo its emergent effects. The SGSV therefore materializes what is herein called the politics of reversibility. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Svalbard SAGE Publications Arctic Endeavour ENVELOPE(162.000,162.000,-76.550,-76.550) Svalbard Security Dialogue 52 1 79 95 |
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Open Polar |
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SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
language |
English |
description |
The article analyzes the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as a specific security technology created to deal with the ecological threat of biodiversity loss. Built in 2008 inside the Arctic Circle, the SGSV serves as a backup for 1,700 agricultural gene banks around the world. If seed collections are lost due to natural disasters or human error, the gene banks can request copies of their varieties from Svalbard and restore their collections to continue the endeavour of plant breeding. The article focuses on the particular temporal politics expressed in the SGSV. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s reflections on time, it is argued that the SGSV opens up the possibility of reversing events by expanding the duration of the present. By separating seeds from their ecological connections on the one hand and controlling their metabolic processes through the use of cold on the other, an enduring temporal zone is created that allows modern society to control the unpredictable and irreversible dynamics of life and undo its emergent effects. The SGSV therefore materializes what is herein called the politics of reversibility. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wolff, Leon |
spellingShingle |
Wolff, Leon The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
author_facet |
Wolff, Leon |
author_sort |
Wolff, Leon |
title |
The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
title_short |
The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
title_full |
The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
title_fullStr |
The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
title_full_unstemmed |
The past shall not begin: Frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
title_sort |
past shall not begin: frozen seeds, extended presents and the politics of reversibility |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0967010620912961 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0967010620912961 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0967010620912961 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.000,162.000,-76.550,-76.550) |
geographic |
Arctic Endeavour Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Endeavour Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_source |
Security Dialogue volume 52, issue 1, page 79-95 ISSN 0967-0106 1460-3640 |
op_rights |
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010620912961 |
container_title |
Security Dialogue |
container_volume |
52 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
79 |
op_container_end_page |
95 |
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1813446062687387648 |