Lecture by Raj Patel, LBJ School of Public Affairs. Discussant, Pilar Zazueta, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS). Nothing appears more benign, more consonant with the idea of sustainable food systems than saving seeds for future generations. Preserving germplasm from the effects of climate change, for improved yield and for disease resistance, is presented as an unambiguous good. That seed saving is shot through with colonialism can be admitted, while suggesting that modern efforts are admirably free of its unpleasant history. Or so some of the largest seed-saving institutions would have us believe.

Exploitation hasn't, unfortunately, been consigned to history. Contemporary regimes of intellectual property continue to exploit indigenous communities. State power is a vital part of this expropriation, and remains an overlooked part of the story. Using the example of the Potato Park in the Peruvian Andes, it is possible to see how this expropriation might be resisted. Understanding this resistance as an act of decolonization offers useful lessons for seed saving, and sustainable agriculture, far beyond the park's boundaries.

Raj Patel is an award-winning writer, activist, and academic, and a research professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs as well as a senior research associate at the Unit for the Humanities at Rhodes University (UHURU), South Africa.

Photo by Sheila Menezes.