RHN 104/2021 | Event
Organisers: Commission for Interdisciplinary Ecological Studies (KIOES), Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW)
3 November 2021, Small Festive Hall, University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna
On-site and on-line event
Soy in the Anthropocene
Kerner von Marilaun Symposium 2021
We live in a world of soy. Nearly all of us consume the bean in some form, again and again – either directly, as tofu in a veggie burger, or indirectly, as a piece of pork on the grill. Since the main sites of consumption and production are widely spread, soy's trade routes span the globe. Indeed, the soybean and its by-products, soyoil and soymeal, have emerged as the world's leading agricultural commodity from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. The global soy web affects large tracts of our planet's ‘socio-nature’ in often devastating ways. Therefore, soy has become a decisive factor of the anthropocene, the age of human-made nature.
The conference discusses how soy emerged from a regional food crop to a global cash crop in the 150-years era of globalization. An interdisciplinary and international group of scholars addresses the topic from a holistic perspective, including socio-economic (commodity chains, labor relations, business strategies etc.), socio-political (state policies, international relations, civic movements, etc.), and socio-natural dimensions (plant breeding, farm technology, deforestation, etc.). Against the backdrop of developments in the past, soy's ambivalent role in transitions to a more sustainable future will be discussed.
PROGRAM
9:00–9:30 OPENING
Verena Winiwarter | Chair, Commission for Interdisciplinary Ecological Studies (KIOES), Austria
Welcome Address
Ernst Langthaler | KIOES and Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Soy in the Anthropocence – a Roadmap
9:30–11:30 PANEL 1: SOY'S GLOBAL EMERGENCE
Chair: Verena Winiwarter
Volker Hahn | University of Hohenheim, Gemany
From a Wild Plant to Global Importance: Soybeans from a Plant-Breeding Perspective
Ines Prodöhl | University of Bergen, Norway
Commodifying Asian Soy in Europe: Technological Change, Imperialism, and Transnational Networks in the Early Twentieth Century (online lecture)
Maximilian Martsch | Institute of Rural History, Austria
The Miraculous Stranger. Early Research, Utilization, and Marketization of Soy in Austria, 1870s–1920s
11:30–13:00 SCIENCE AND ARTS – EAT | SOY | ART
Sonja Stummerer & Martin Hablesreiter | Honey & Bunny
13:00–15:00 PANEL 2: SOY'S EXPANDING WEB
Chair: Christian Sturmbauer
Matthew Roth | Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, USA
Meat, Meal, and the USA’s Place in the Global Soy Web
Richa Kumar | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
From Self-Reliance to Deepening Distress: The Ambivalence of the Yellow Revolution in India (online lecture)
Ernst Langthaler | KIOES and Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Great Accelerations: Soy and its Global Trade Network since the 1950s
15:00–15:30 BREAK
15:30–17:30 PANEL 3: TOWARDS THE ‘SOYACENE‘
Chair: Ernst Langthaler
Claiton Marcio da Silva | Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul, Brazil
The Brazilian Tropical Bonanza of Soybean Farming During the Great Acceleration (online lecture)
Matilda Baraibar Norberg |Stockholm University, Sweden
Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in the Global Soy Web: Transnational Forces, National Regulatory Frameworks, and Historical Legacies of the Contemporary ‘Soy Boom’
Brian Lander | Brown University, USA
A History of Soy in China: From Weedy Bean to Global Commodity (online lecture)
17:30–18:00 BREAK
18:00–19:30 CONCLUSIONS: SOY'S (UN-)SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Moderation: Ilse Huber | ORF
Franziskus Forster | UniNEtZ, Austria
Sustainable Soy – an Option for Austria?
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Ursula Bittner | Greenpeace, Austria
Matthias Krön | Donau Soja, Austria
Magdalena Puchberger | The Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, Austria
Monika Stangl | Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism, Austria
Johann Vollmann | University of Natrual Resources and Life Sciences, Austria
More information and the access link for online participation can be found at the conference website.