Of Fish and Men The Case of Tilapia and NORAD

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Of Fish and MenThe Case of Tilapia and NORAD

• A joint venture between the University of Oslo
  and the University of Maastricht
  
• Researcher Silje
  Rem

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Genesis (My point of departure)

• Uncertainty about the new technology
• NORAD has to make its policy
• Disagreement about using biotech in aid

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A Fish Called Tilapia...
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Fishy Facts

• Made in Africa
• Protein source/ an alternative to meat
• Needs a warm climate
• A big market
• The second most eaten fish

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A Tale of Two Cities.
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Great Expectations

• Biotechnology as a tool to bridge the divide
  between the North and the South

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• A GM Tilapia (or altered) will help feed the poor
• Local people will get jobs (capasity building)
• Co-operation between the North and the South

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The Misanthrope

• It will harm the environment and existing species

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• The gap between the North and the South will
  increase
• Tilapia will be exported instead of feeding the
  poor
• Local people will lose their jobs (unskilled
  labour)
• Research in the North, production in the South

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The previous slides

• Positive (progressive, naive) and negative
  (backward, apocalyptic)
• The New Green Revolution or the Real Green
  Revolution
• Alternatives exist

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(No Transcript)
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Aims and Objectives

• My case the use of modern biotechnology in aid
  funded breeding of Tilapia
• I will use this as a starting point to highlight
  different views on using biotechnology (as a
  tool) in development aid

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Key Questions

• How are the needs of the poor taken into account
  in the projects supported by NORAD?
• I will look into the alternative ways of breeding
  Tilapia and perceptions of cost (risk) and
  benefits
• How are the needs of the South used to justify
  the two different attitudes towards
  biotechnology?

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Methods (How?)

• Texts project descriptions, strategy plans,
  Policy papers (from the government), articles
  written by NORAD
• Interviews (representatives from NORAD, project
  coordinators in Bangladesh, the Biotechnology
  Advisory Board, Genomar, etc.)
• Discorse analyses

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Key concepts

• SCOT (Social Construction of Technology)
• Some elements from CTA (Constructive Technology
  Assessment)
• Script - enrol or open?
• Technological fix

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NGOs
Policies Laws/regulatios
Norwegian Biotech industry

TILAPIA
Multinationals
Markets
Small scale farmers
Other donors HDR 2001
Norwegian fisheries
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DEMAND LED

• Choice
• Globalization
• Markets

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I thought I could organize freedom, how
Scandinavian of me

• 
  Bjork

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To be continued...
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Thanks for your attention

• Also thanks to Charles Dickens, Jean- Baptiste
  Moliere, John Steinbeck, et al

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The End