Seed Saving and Seed Sharing: Occupying a Liminal Legal Space

• Authors: Ashley Louisa , Rodríguez Herrera Diana María , Hummel Agata
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article explores seed-saving and sharing as acts of resistance within a legally liminal space, challenging an exclusionary legal framework shaped by anthropocentric and capitalocenic perspectives. The Corporate Seed Regime has displaced long-standing local seed systems, prioritizing individual ownership over commons, peasant rights, and indigenous ontologies. Drawing on Victor Turner’s concept of liminality, we examine this space as one of critique, and with potential of reform and new sociopolitical system. Through desk research and fieldwork in the UK and Colombia, we compare resistance tactics of local seed organizations. Our findings highlight a growing global movement, led by the Global South, that promotes alternative seed discourses and everyday sharing practices, now influencing the Global North. This movement underscores the polarization between informal, community-driven seed exchange and formalized legal systems, illustrating ongoing struggles for seed sovereignty and posthuman legal recognition.

Keywords

EN

Corporate Seed Regime; seed sovereignty; legal liminality; resistance tactics

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Socjologiczne
• Year: 2025
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 191-216

Contributors

author

Ashley Louisa

• Leeds Beckett University

author

Rodríguez Herrera Diana María

• University of Pereira

author

Hummel Agata

• Uniwersytet Warszawski

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Identifiers

DOI

DOI: 10.24425/sts.2025.154902