Reinventing Hoodia - Peoples, plants, and patents in South Africa (Paperback)

Native to the Kalahari Desert, Hoodia gordonii is a succulent plant known by generations of indigenous San peoples to have a variety of uses: to reduce hunger, increase energy, and ease breastfeeding. In the global North, it is known as a natural appetite suppressant, a former star of the booming diet industry. In Reinventing Hoodia, Laura Foster explores how the plant was reinvented through patent ownership, pharmaceutical research, the self-determination efforts of indigenous San peoples, contractual benefit sharing, commercial development as an herbal supplement, and bioprospecting legislation. Using a feminist decolonial technoscience approach, Foster argues that although patent law is inherently racialized, gendered, and Western, it offered opportunities for indigenous San peoples, South African scientists, and Hoodia growers to make claims for belonging within the shifting politics of South Africa. This radical interdisciplinary and intersectional account of the multiple materialities of Hoodia illuminates the connections between law, science, and the marketplace, while demonstrating how these domains value certain forms of knowledge and matter differently.

General

Imprint:	Wits University Press
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	March 2018
Authors:	Laura A. Foster
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	209
ISBN-13:	978-1-77614-223-1
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > African history > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Indigenous peoples Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Manufacturing industries > Pharmaceutical industries Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Botany & plant sciences > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > Women's studies > General Books > History > African history > General
LSN:	1-77614-223-3
Barcode:	9781776142231

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My review

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 | Review by: Roshan C.

Insightful research intro the hoodia patents and advocacy of indigenous KhoiSan knowledge.

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