Freezing Seeds and Making Futures: Endangerment, Hope, Security, and Time in Agrobiodiversity Conservation Practices

Abstract This paper considers the temporal practices inherent in the work of global agrobiodiversity conservation, drawing on ongoing research with the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It contrasts the distinctive, future‐making practices inherent in the work of ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment
Main Author: Harrison, Rodney
Other Authors: Arts and Humanities Research Council
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12096
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fcuag.12096
https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cuag.12096
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Summary:Abstract This paper considers the temporal practices inherent in the work of global agrobiodiversity conservation, drawing on ongoing research with the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It contrasts the distinctive, future‐making practices inherent in the work of ex situ cold seed storage, with the normative, entropic view of the relationship of species diversity with time that arises from the field of biodiversity conservation more generally. These differences point to the value of comparative studies of natural and cultural heritage conservation practices that focus on their politics and ontologies to reveal the heterogeneity of approaches across these fields, and the different worlds they each produce in conserving their endangered objects for the future.