The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics

by Vandana Shiva

Overview

The Green Revolution has been heralded as a political and technological achievement—unprecedented in human history. Yet in the decades that have followed it, this supposedly nonviolent revolution has left lands ravaged by violence and ecological scarcity. A dedicated empiricist, Vandana Shiva takes a magnifying glass to the effects of the Green Revolution in India, examining the devastating effects of monoculture and commercial agriculture and revealing the nuanced relationship between ecological destruction and poverty. In this classic work, the influential activist and scholar also looks to the future as she examines new developments in gene technology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813166544
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	01/14/2016
Series:	Culture of the Land
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Vandana Shiva is the director of Navdanya in India. A physicist, philosopher, and feminist, she is the author of more than twenty books and the recipient of more than twenty international awards.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Science and Politics in the Green Revolution
2. 'Miracle Seeds' and the destruction of Genetic Diversity
3. Chemical Fertilizers and Soil Fertility
4. Intensive Irrigation, Large Dams and Water Conflicts
5. The Political and Cultural Costs of the Green Revolution
6. Pepsico For Peace? The Ecological and Political Risks of the Biotechnology Revolution
7. The Seed and the Spinning Wheel: The Political Ecology of Technological Change

Editorial Reviews

So many crucial questions are raised in this book.... [It presents] an important thesis about the realignment of social groups that deserves careful analysis

Agricultural History

Most welcome.... Vandana Shiva draws renewed attention to the impact on Indian agriculture of the Green Revolution and its transformation into the biotechnological revolution.... Raises important questions for contemporary analyses of ecological distress and economic restructuring.

Science and Society

Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most prominent radical scientists.

Guardian

Shiva treats the Green Revolution as an example of scientific hubris, an attempt to use science to overcome the natural limitations of agriculture, primarily for a political purpose.

Journal of Asian Studies

"Most welcome.... Vandana Shiva draws renewed attention to the impact on Indian agriculture of the Green Revolution and its transformation into the biotechnological revolution.... Raises important questions for contemporary analyses of ecological distress and economic restructuring." -- Science and Society

"Shiva treats the Green Revolution as an example of scientific hubris, an attempt to use science to overcome the natural limitations of agriculture, primarily for a political purpose." -- Journal of Asian Studies

"So many crucial questions are raised in this book.... [It presents] an important thesis about the realignment of social groups that deserves careful analysis" -- Agricultural History

"Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most prominent radical scientists." -- Guardian

From the Publisher