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Do you have the philanthrocapitalism article she references?

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From: Julie Cotton <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 8:07:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Carol Thompson Seminar - African Farmers' Seed Systems: Alternatives to Philanthrocapitalism

To all, please see below for a seminar next Tuesday, March 27th from 11:30-12:30 in 338NR.  The speaker will be Dr. Carol Thompson of Northern Arizona University.  You can find more on her here: https://nau.edu/SBS/Politics/Faculty-Staff/Carol-Thompson<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nau.edu_SBS_Politics_Faculty-2DStaff_Carol-2DThompson&d=DwMGaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=HCxhQzWDjfQp8bOzgt93OA&m=dy8o2mKC4tlNU5Q5p_MkefvMuj5DZkmYL6QMpsimRg8&s=BXJy38-o5wtiECWBImn1cVu1H9xMI6_sunlq9G85aYE&e=>/

African Farmers' Seed Systems:  Alternatives to Philanthrocapitalism

Andrew Mushita and Carol Thompson


Farmer seed systems survive because they engage changing conditions, sustaining their identity while transforming it, similar to their adaptive crop populations.  Consistent is their sharing of seeds and of indigenous knowledge, even as the propagation and uses of the crops may change.  Over the last decade or two, the systemic change attracting the most attention as a challenge to farmer seed systems is of course climatic change.  In that context, another systemic threat to farmer seed systems needs equally urgent attention and debate.  Since the end of 2006, more than a decade, the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) is leading the way in trying to transform farmer seed systems to lock it to the ‘food value chain' of philanthrocapitalism.  This paper briefly addresses the theory of philanthrocapitalism by outlining its trajectories, rooted in neoliberalism.  The analysis explores fundamental differences in how large foundations, with more cash than most governments, are interjecting their private goals into public spaces.   Although much has been written about philanthrocapitalism in the fields of education and of health, this paper focuses on its role in the African food sector.  The core of the analysis is to describe and explain how African smallholder farmers are not just resisting the insertion of philanthrocapitalism into their seed systems, but are offering alternatives to the AGRA agenda.  It suggests that the farmers’ practices may well be in advance of our theorizing about the future of food for the planet.