Cultivating seed sovereignty in Tarija, Bolivia

Seeds contain the technical and cultural knowledge of farming communities, accumulated over generations. If these communities have autonomy over their food system, campesino farmers can opt to save their own seeds, thus reproducing their ancestral biocultural materials and values while exercising control over the social and economic conditions underpinning their food systems. But when community control has been eroded through environmental change and through agricultural policy that devalues farmer knowledge, stewarding seeds as a vessel for cultural reproduction can be difficult. In 2009, the Bolivian national government ratified a new constitution that solidified a permanent commitment to the principles of food sovereignty. But a tension has emerged between the narrative and aspiration of food sovereignty at the policy level and the lived experience of campesino farmers who are experiencing mounting environmental, socio-economic, and political challenges to saving seed. This research explores the tensions in enacting seed sovereignty across national and local scales. The primary methods used included household surveys (n=28), life history interviews with community members (n=13), and semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable persons (n=8), complemented by participant observation within a critical ethnographic framework. I also explored the use of biocultural design as a methodological tool and practice for guiding inter-epistemic collaboration in support of community autonomy. My findings indicate that modernity and coloniality continue to underpin Bolivia’s political agenda around seed (Chapter 2). The national government centres productivity and marketability rather than local knowledge and community autonomy. However, campesino communities continue to practice diverse everyday forms of resistance in opposition to dominant neocolonial narratives (Chapter 3). These forms of resistance represent a critical dimension of organizing for seed sovereignty. They also indicate that a design practice, which respectfully draws multiple ways of knowing into the creation of a mobile museum (Chapter 4), can contribute to collective processes of seed sovereignty. I conclude that while local communities face major barriers to shaping their seed systems according to their values and goals, they are also creative and resilient in safeguarding ancestral knowledge and fighting for community autonomy. Making these actions visible contributes to our understanding of enacting seed sovereignty by local communities.

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