Feminist Perspective on Agricultural Biotechnology To Be Explored in Oct. 30 Talk at Cal Poly

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- What can feminism tell us about the global debates surrounding agricultural biotechnology? Will biotechnology result in a second “Green Revolution” that can help solve world hunger? What are the ethical implications involved?

Those are some of the questions to be explored in a talk from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Room 286 in the Fisher Science Building at Cal Poly. Lisa Weasel, an associate professor of biology at Portland State University, will present “Feminism in the Fields: Genes, Gender and the Globalization of Genetically Modified Organisms.”

The lecture will present an interdisciplinary feminist analysis of the science of agricultural biotechnology and the global social and ethical debates surrounding genetically modified food. Weasel will talk about how feminism affects agriculture and how GMOs and gender intersect.

Weasel, who teaches at Portland State University in Oregon, earned an A.B. magna cum laude in biology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cambridge University.

Weasel has received grants and fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and many private foundations. In 2001, she received a five year Career Award from the NSF to support her research on global ethics and equity issues in agricultural biotechnology.

The talk is sponsored by Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture Food and Environmental Sciences and the Cal Poly Women's Studies Program. It is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Cal Poly’s Women’s Studies Program Office at 756-1525 or womst@calpoly.edu.

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