Farmers’ Knowledge and Genetic Resources Conservation
This article analyzes some aspects of the French movement for a farmers’ seed reappropriation, in particular its strategic choice to present itself as an actor in the conservation of cultivated genetic resources. The article discusses the involvement of researchers (including the author) in the construction of such a framework. History shows that this framing has been politically productive on certain scenes and at given times. Its pitfall though is that it reduces peasant seeds to their genetic dimension and the farmers involved to biodiversity custodians. The evolution of the movement and the regulatory context show that repositioning is possible. In the conclusion the author reflects on the proper use of reductionism. Borrowing from Olivier de Sardan, she distinguishes two approaches to reductionism among researchers—methodological and ideological—to defend the first. As a counterpoint, she proposes to call strategic reductionism (in reference to Spivak) « the strategic choice of the actors to put forward only a limited aspect of their practices and their project ». Researchers become the intellectual allies of social movements when their own methodological reductionism aligns with the strategic reductionism of the actors.