SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF HUNGER
By Gabriela Soto Laveaga | 6:30 PM IST | 22 August 2020
In the mid-1960s concerns over population growth and the ability to feed a "hungry world" dominated global policy. The elimination of hunger via science, specifically agricultural science, was seen as a plausible solution. The global solution came to be known as the Green Revolution and it was pushed from Mexico, where it originated, across the globe. Only later would we come to understand that a single, global solution had significant environmental, social, and economic impacts, especially for already vulnerable populations.
This tale of development aid, however, could have been a significantly different one.
In this talk Gabriela Soto Laveaga examined why it is important to study the histories of India and Mexico together to question why a solution such as the Green Revolution was not the adequate one for primarily agrarian nations. In particular, she looked at the life of Pandurang Khankhoje, an Indian native in Mexico, to further underline the importance of global histories that embrace both nations.
Suggested readings -
About the Speaker
Gabriela Soto Laveaga is Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University. Her current research interests interrogate knowledge production and circulation between Mexico and India; medical professionals and social movements; and science and development projects in the twentieth century.
Her first book, Jungle Laboratories: Mexican Peasants, National Projects and the Making of the Pill, won the Robert K. Merton Best Book prize in Science, Knowledge, and Technology Studies from the American Sociological Association. Her second monograph, Sanitizing Rebellion: Physician Strikes, Public Health and Repression in Twentieth Century Mexico, examines the role of healthcare providers as both critical actors in the formation of modern states and as social agitators. Her latest book project seeks to re-narrate histories of twentieth century agriculture development aid from the point of view of India and Mexico.
She has held numerous grants, including those from the Ford, Mellon, Fulbright, DAAD, and Gerda Henkel Foundations. In 2019, she received the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence In Mentoring Award from Harvard University.
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