Jessie Luna
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Colorado State University, Fort Collins
In Person:
GUGG 205
Oct 7, 2022, 3:35 PM
Or Join Zoom Meeting:
cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94289510628
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Abstract
In this talk, Dr. Luna investigates agricultural technology adoption in the cotton sector of Burkina Faso. She uses the framework of racial capitalism to explain why and how agricultural modernization in Burkina Faso is rife with contradictions: social and ecological exploitation, rising farmer differentiation and cultural change, and the reality that many farmers and Burkinabès are actively taking part in these processes. She proposes that racial hierarchies and imaginaries – and the myriad ways that differently situated people navigate them – play an under-examined role in shaping agricultural modernization in contemporary Africa.
Bio
Dr. Luna completed a PhD in Sociology at CU Boulder (with active involvement in Geography!), and is now an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She draws on political ecology and development geographies in her interdisciplinary research.