ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Risk Beyond the Model: Multiscale Stories of Agrobiodiversity Loss in the Andes

• In Event: Legitimating Agricultural Risk: Science, Bodies and Knowledge Across Global Farming

English Abstract

This paper examines the scientific models used to analyze native potato varieties cultivated by peasant communities in the Andes, focusing on research in Peru since the early 1970s. Early scientific approaches treated the “risk” of declines in native potato diversity as inherent to agriculture, emphasizing genetic erosion linked to improved varieties, market dynamics, and climate variability. Over time, research shifted toward multidisciplinary perspectives that situate risk within broader historical transformations in Andean agrarian life.

This shift highlights that agrobiodiversity is socially embedded in peasant communities and that risk assessment and conservation are closely linked to national policies and social changes, such as shifting labor regimes, migration, neoliberal reforms, and the growth of extractive industries, which have transformed the environments where native potatoes are grown. This paper shows how scientific methods have expanded to incorporate political, economic, and social factors at various levels, emphasizing that considering peasants’ perspectives and local knowledge is crucial for understanding agrobiodiversity loss.

Author

• Alejandra Osorio Tarazona, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin