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Awareness of the need for biodiversity conservation is now universally accepted, but most often recent conservation activities have focused on wild species. Crop species and the diversity between and within them has significant socioeconomic as well as heritage value. The bulk of genetic diversity in domesticated species is located in traditional varieties maintained by traditional farming systems. These traditional varieties, commonly referred to as landraces, are severely threatened by genetic extinction primarily due to their replacement by modern genetically uniform varieties. The conservation of landrace diversity has been hindered in part by the lack of an accepted definition to define the entity universally recognized as landraces. Without a definition it would be impossible to prepare an inventory and without an inventory changes in landrace constituency could not be recognized over time. Therefore, based on a literature review, workshop discussion and interviews with key informants, common characteristics of landraces were identified, such as: historical origin, high genetic diversity, local genetic adaptation, recognizable identity, lack of formal genetic improvement, and whether associated with traditional farming systems. However, although these characteristics are commonly present they are not always all present for any individual landrace; several crop-specific exceptions were noted relating to crop propagation method (sexual or asexual), breeding system (self-fertilized or cross-fertilized species), length of formal crop improvement, seed management (selection or random propagation) and use. This paper discusses the characteristics that generally constitute a landrace, reviews the exceptions to these characteristics and provides a working definition of a landrace. The working definition proposed is as follows: ‘a landrace is a dynamic population(s) of a cultivated plant that has historical origin, distinct identity and lacks formal crop improvement, as well as often being genetically diverse, locally adapted and associated with traditional farming systems’.

Since the 1990s Latin America has witnessed the emergence of ethnic, often social movement-based, political parties. Within this context Rigoberto Quemé Chay became the first indigenous mayor of Quetzaltenango, the second-largest city of Guatemala, a place that until then had been marked by indigenous political exclusion and racism. This article seeks to explain why Quemé was victorious in 1995 and also why he subsequently lost the election in 2004 through an analysis of the ideational struggle within the (indigenous) political organisation, Xel-jú, which backed Quemé's candidacy twice. I use the movements of ‘departure’, ‘manoeuvre’ and ‘arrival’ in the process of the constitution of hegemonic visions of power to analyse Xel-jú's rise to political power

Using the example of one of the African fisheries that has been most significantly transformed from family based to commercialized—that on Lake Victoria in Tanzania—this article considers the social nexus of decision making and focuses on analyzing women’s place. It is true that women have never been more than a minority in fisheries due to traditional inheritance patterns and new market structures, both of which bypass women in questions of ownership and decision making. We look in vain for fishwives, if this means female fish producers acting with a highly visible degree of economic and social autonomy. There is no vernacular term to identify women who work with fish or those rare women who own fishing vessels. And yet the absence of derogatory representation suggests that there have been few attempts to detract from women who are active in the fishery. Should we thus be aiming at more subtlety in our analytical approaches to fishing relations on Lake Victoria? The article unveils the ways in which women’s relations with fishermen are negotiated and how agreements are reached on behalf of their families. It explores for women’s empowerment via the customary social relations and management arrangements that exist in these riparian communities. The lake fishery has a basis for development, but its potential for the kind of growth that will have returns for future generations rests on an appreciation of how fisher-wives conceive of, and respond to, the opportunities, constraints and risks of investing in this fishery.

This article argues that street children studies (SCS) has reduced its central concept to a discursive construct, and the young street people themselves to capable ‘agents’. One consequence is that street children are not recognized as distinct intergenerational groupings in society. The traditional history of SCS as saga of science elides its positionality as activist critique. This dominant paradigm emerges as overarching belief structure and storytelling tradition, in which the presentation of correct and useful science is crucial. Taking the activist critique as a variant of post-development theory, this article traces different forms of discursive determinism, deconstructionism and populism. Using an iconic text as test case, the article reviews in detail the deconstructionist and populist arguments regarding the complexities, politics and images of street children. Opportunities to think sociologically are identified throughout. Discursive determinism relates to the narrow focus on childhood; intergenerational approaches help to go beyond discourse and competence.

This article envisages slum dwellers' politics in Recife, Brazil as a realm of possibility in which care and recognition are central. Community leaders are its main facilitators as articulators of slum dwellers' needs and aspirations. The article's notion of slum politics is an elaboration of Chatterjee's (2004) ideas on popular politics as a “politics of the governed.“ Yet the article critiques the governmentality perspective for its inability to envisage a politics of hope and possibility. It distinguishes among slum politics, governmental politics (projects and programs), and electoral politics (voting), which are entwined and interdependent, but different. Zooming in on a community leader's urban agriculture project, the article argues that this project, which from an outsiders' perspective may be considered non-viable, provided slum dwellers with possibilities to strive for community solidarity and personal recognition. Slum politics, the article concludes, is about claiming the right to be counted and recognized, and about the care for the other.

This article discusses the transnational migration of Peruvian shepherds from the central Andes to ranches on the west coast of the United States. On the basis of ethnographic research in the comunidad campesina (peasant community) of Usibamba, we delve into the consequences of this long-term migration for the families left behind, especially the wives, and for the operation of the comunidad campesina. We analyze the paradoxical ways in which the exodus of shepherds leads to a questioning of the control of the comunidad over its members but at the same time strengthens its disciplinary regime. Empirical examples show how the role of women in the comunidad is shifting as a result of this male exodus

This article weaves together two interconnected issues. The first concerns how anthropological research throws light on the complexities of implementing development policies aimed at ameliorating what are described as ‘social problems’ – in this case the plight of street children. The second arises from this discussion – namely, should anthropologists adopt a more politically and ethically engaged stance in defence of the under-privileged and socially excluded? It is concluded that these are serious questions that anthropologists are propelled to ask as they witness the growing inequities of present-day global development.

Este artículo analiza la configuración de redes de innovación en dos casos de cadenas de valor de biocomercio en Suramérica: producción de salsas de ajíes con frutas amazónicas en Colombia y producción de perfumes en Brasil a partir de aceites esenciales provenientes de Ecuador. Por medio de la integración de dos perspectivas teóricas, los autores resaltan tanto los aspectos económicos como socioculturales que influencian la configuración de estas redes. Esto permite considerar las tensiones, sinergias y contradicciones entre las lógicas del mercado y las prácticas, significados y valores socioculturales locales. Sacando lecciones aprendidas de los estudios de caso, el artículo contribuye a la discusión teórica sobre cómo las cadenas de valor (incluyentes) son social y económicamente construidas, y cómo su desempeño está relacionado con las redes de innovación.