[UCI-CalIT2] Biotechnology - The Case of India - Seminar May 22

Stuart A ROSS STUROSS@uci.edu
Mon, 19 May 2003 12:36:28 -0700


"Bio-Technology, Nationalism and Democracy: The Case of India"

Shiv Visvanathan, Visiting Professor, Stanford University 

Presented by 
The Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations
(CRITO)
The Graduate School of Management
Cal-(IT)2


Date/Time/Venue
 May 22, 2003
 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
 Room: 116 GSM (Graduate School of Management Building)
 
 Light refreshments/snacks will be available


ABSTRACT:  Most papers on biotechnology tend to be seen as debates on
innovation, the role of venture capital or question of intellectual
property rights.  This paper attempts to look at biotechnology within a
wider social and cultural imagination.  It argues that biotechnology is
not a debate restricted to the backroom boys of Delhi and Bangalore, but
is a part of wider public imagination.  Democracy consumes science and
composts it as an imagination.  The paper attempts to map out the
various attempts to map out the various stakeholders and how they build
up both the possibility and the limits.  It discusses the role of
peasant movements, the Diaspora, NGOs, farmers, peasant juries etc.  It
is an attempt to link biotechnology to desire in the post-socialist
imagination of India.

THE SPEAKER:  Shiv Visvanathan is a senior research scholar at the
Center for Research on Developing Societies, New Delhi, India which is
one of the most influential research institutes in the country, known
for its fundamental work on globalization, social and economic
development and social policy issues.  Professor Visvanathan's work
focuses on Science Studies and how technologies shape public policies on
the one hand and cultures on the other.  He is currently teaching at
Stanford.