Assistant Professor of Anthropology Christopher Morris has published a new book titled Biotraffic: Medicines and Environmental Governance in the Afterlives of Apartheid (University of California Press). Set in a former apartheid “homeland” in South Africa, the book examines how the trade in biological resources intersects with pharmaceutical profits and colonial legacies. By exploring the contested extraction of wild medicinal plants, it shows how efforts to both conserve and commercialize biodiversity can tighten elite control over resources, hinder land rights, and deepen environmental inequities.
"At last! A book that engages with the contradictions of access and benefit sharing, and its (neglected) embeddedness in the politics of land, culture, identity, and capital. Christopher Morris's meticulously researched and beautifully written book about the Pelargonium plant trade is a must-read for anyone looking for a fresh and critical perspective on how global biodiversity governance has lost its way."—Rachel Wynberg, South Africa Research Chair of Bio-economy, University of Cape Town
Learn more about the book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/biotraffic/paper.
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November 08, 2024