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theses

ETD doctoral

The dissertation focuses on two lines of inquiry. First, why are GMOs objects of contention? Second, why, and under what conditions, is opposition to GMOs successful? To answer these questions, I examine the way in which GMOs are depicted as objects of contention on the global and local level. Part One provides a framework for the project. Chapter Two presents the constructivist approach to the study of resistance to GMOs. Discourse and images are examined from the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Spain, and the United States. Part Two examines the global level of GMOs from an ideological and regulatory perspective. Chapter Three first examines the ideological component by exploring how sound science is projected in the United States and Europe. The narrative has three parts: it advances a neoliberal narrative of the technology, arguing that non-sound science approaches are in fact attempts to politicize trade. This establishes a relationship between science, free trade, and GMOs. The second part of the narrative posits that failure to embrace GMOs will lead to a catastrophe. The third part of the narrative scapegoats the public, arguing that public ignorance will block GMOs, thereby ensuring the catastrophe. Chapter Four also focuses on the global level by examining the regulatory context in the European Union, as well as the trade conflicts between the EU and the US. Part Three turns to the domestic, or local, level, presenting five case studies. These case studies compare the political, economic, cultural, and public opinion of GMOs across countries, establishing the variance in the domestic context. Part Four looks at the images produced by the opponents of GMOs. The images are a successful refutation to the “sound science” narrative because they provide universal symbols of doubt and critique that can be redeployed within specific cultural contexts. The power of resistance is found within the logic employed by visual hegemony: the strategy of GMO resistance is to circumnavigate the logic of rationality of the proponents of GMOs and substitute the synecdotal reasoning that communicates a diffuse narrative of doubt and mistrust which critiques of the process, product, and implications.

ETD_6293

doi:10.7282/T39K4D3K

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Kelly Ann Clancy

The author owns the copyright to this work.