Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5074311 | Geoforum | 2012 | 9 Pages |
The European Union (EU) recently terminated the Sugar Protocol, which had provided a guaranteed minimum price for sugar exports from countries in the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. Caribbean sugar producers have responded in a variety of different ways. This paper engages with the adjustment of the Barbadian sugar sector; in particular, the agronomic cane breeding and selection program currently underway.This paper demonstrates the value that vitalist materialism, as a philosophical approach, has for understanding the situated practices and politics of cane variety selection in Barbados. Approaching agronomic practices from a more-than-human, vitalist perspective has political as well as practical significance, illuminating the lack of attention given to the specific material relations and temporalities of sugarcane in national 'adjustment' plans.
⺠Vitalist materialism is a useful approach for more-than-human geographers. ⺠Materialities of sugar-cane breeding have important consequences for policy. ⺠Disjunctural temporality of materialities shapes the outcome of policy. ⺠Economic policy must take into account vital materialisms if it is to be effective.