| Over the past decade, agricultural biotechnology has become a contentious issue in India, as seen in a wide range of newspaper articles focused on farmers' protests against field trials of genetically modified cotton (GM cotton), farmers' suicides in cotton growing regions, and the spread of unauthorized GM cotton. When compared to other agricultural technologies, agrifood biotechnology generates much more controversy involving government agencies, industries, NGOs, scientists and farmers. It is in this context that this study examines controversies surrounding the commercial introduction of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton in India. This study attempts to examine social conflict and compromise involving actors holding divergent views toward the commercial introduction of genetically modified crops by analyzing contested issues and the group dynamics between interested parties.; This dissertation deploys a discourse perspective in examining the controversy. A discourse perspective---consisting of actors, claims, strategies and outcomes---serves as an analytical framework. Framing literature and social identity theories serve as the grounds for interpreting data.; This dissertation uses 390 English-language Indian newspapers articles, 77 articles from two Gujarati dailies and one farm newspaper, and 95 interviews with actors in government, civil society, industry, mass media, scientists, and farmers conducted in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat. For the analysis and interpretation of data, ethnographic content analysis was used to highlight emergent themes and patterns significant in Indian agrifood biotechnology debates.; The analysis suggests that the controversies surrounding Bt cotton in India reflect (1) a multiplicity of constantly changing views towards Bt cotton that go far beyond the simple dichotomy of support and opposition of GM cotton, (2) constant shifts in the nature of relations between groups involved in the controversy, and (3) a complex pattern of strategies that actors deploy in maintaining interpretive control over the issues involving Bt cotton. The dominant frame has shifted from governmental processes to economic needs, while power has shifted away from government and toward farmers. Strategies include claimsmaking activities in public fora, strategic use of framing, and anchoring strategies in establishing the credibility of claims and claimsmakers. |
