Maywa Montenegro de Wit is a transdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of agroecology, political ecology, and science & technol- ogy studies on questions broadly related to transformations to equitable food systems. As an assistant professor in the department of Environmen- tal Studies at UC Santa Cruz, she braids a background in molecular biol- ogy and science journalism into critical social science approaches to food systems research and education. Current teaching and research interests include gene editing in agriculture, commoning alternatives to IP, aboli- tionist praxis, and knowledge politics of agroecology and food sovereignty movements globally. A first-generation US citizen, Dr. Montenegro was raised in rural Appalachia and is the daughter of an Indigenous Quechua father and a Dutch mother. Her PhD work at UC Berkeley explored trends of agro- biodiversity loss through the lens of colonialism, the Green Revolution, and knowledge politics shaping contemporary landscapes of disposses- sion and repossession. Her postdoc at UC Davis extended this research into CRISPR/Cas gene editing in food systems, specifically how discourses of "democratization" enable contradictory possibilities to unfold in the making, sharing, and governing of new technologies. As a new professor at UC Santa Cruz, she is continuing to research new biotechnologies, pathways connecting agrobiodiversity to human health/nutrition, and agroecological-abolitionist food futures. Dr. Montenegro is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, serves on the board of the Journal of Agriculture and Human Values, and co-facilitates the Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC).
An agroecological food system is no more about organic food than abolition is about unlocking a prison door. In this vital essay, Maywa Montenegro de Wit weaves together ideas from the most important political and ecological literatures of the late 20th and early 21st century. The pandemic provides a focus for these two sources of illumination, but the brilliant light that comes from bringing these disciplines together will shine long after Covid-19's shadow passes. --Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and StarvedThe booklet rings with the question: reform or transformation? It asks, shall we mitigate and adapt or overhaul our imaginaries? We have been given a scaffold for tackling the bastion of colonialism and coloniality and for rebuilding the systems that have rammed a knee into already suffocating food and socio-economic systems. It is time to rise up from a wilfully constructed nightmare. -- Nnimmo Bassey, author of To Cook a Continent - Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in AfricaCOVID-19 and other zoonotic outbreaks such as Ebola are illustrative of the complex interactions between deforestation, biodiversity loss, ecosystem destruction, and human health and safety. Maywa makes a compelling case for shifts towards diversified agro-ecological systems that recognise the complex interconnections between human and animal health, plants and our shared environment and futures. Indeed, addressing pandemics systemically, cannot be de-linked from building economies and food systems that are grounded in the needs of people, particularly smallholder farmers, and thriving ecosystems. To achieve this, we must utterly reject and prohibit the ecocidal illogic of commodification, financialisation, and extractivism, as driving forces of human and ecological fortunes and destinies. --Mariam Mayet, Executive Director, African Centre for Biodiversity
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