Quinoa: Food politics and agrarian life in the Andean highlands By Linda Seligmann. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2023. 201 pp.
Year: 2024
Type: book-review
Abstract: This book seeks to understand the local consequences of quinoa's transformation from "a minor crop to a major export commodity" (p.5).The study focuses on Huanoquite, a rural district in Paruro Province, in the Cusco region of the southern Peruvian highlands.Linda Seligmann's research underscores the necessity of scrutinizing a broad spectrum of global processes that extend beyond quinoa yet profoundly affect indigenous farmers in the local context.These processes include the expansion of mining, owing to high international metal prices; the push against communal land property toward individual ownership; the expansion of markets and public infrastructure; and the growing presence of state institutions and NGOs.This book is based on ethnographic work conducted in Huanoquite during the northern summers of 2018 and 2019.Nevertheless, it is essential to emphasize that this research unquestionably benefits from the author's extensive fieldwork research in Huanoquite since 1984, which includes previous investigations into the consequences of Peru's 1969 agrarian reform and an exploration of the roles of women as economic actors.The data emerges through participant observation, informal conversations, and interviews with local farmers, community leaders, local authorities, government officials, and US quinoa importers and consumers.Furthermore, it integrates data from the author's previous field studies and a diverse array of secondary sources.The book has two parts.The first part consists of three chapters that provide the backstories to the second part, which analyses the effects of quinoa's transformation into a superfood.In chapter 1, the author establishes Huanoquite's current context and emphasizes the aftermath of the 1969 agrarian reform.Seligmann lays out a scenario in which inequality has deepened; some more prosperous people have obtained individual land titles, while "peasant communities," though weakened, continue to hold communal land titles.Chapter 2 examines the repercussions of Huanoquite's new infrastructure.For example, the paving of the road between Cusco and the town of Yaurisque in 2006 had a direct impact on Huanoquite.The paved road did not arrive at Huanoquite because the state prioritized the interests of large mining companies.
Source: American Ethnologist
DOI: 10.1111/amet.13321
Author: Guillermo Salas Carreño
Institution: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402304666