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아시아 여성 농민들의 씨앗 지키기 운동 : Asian Womens Seed Saving Movements -Focusing on South Koreas KWPA & Indias Navdanya
한국의 전여농과 인도의 나바단야를 중심으로

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Authors

Snigdha Gupta

Advisor
Dr. Erik Mobrand
Issue Date
2020
Publisher
서울대학교 대학원
Description
학위논문(석사)--서울대학교 대학원 :국제대학원 국제학과(한국학전공),2020. 2. Dr. Erik Mobrand.
Abstract
씨앗 지키기라는 농업 관습은 전세계 농촌 사회에서 여성농민의 주역할이었다. 그러나 20세기를 비롯해 식민화, 산업화, 녹색혁명, 세계화 과정 등에서 농식품제도가 변화하면서 전통 씨앗과 함께 이 관습도 사라지고 있는 것이다. 본 논문은 이 관습을 되살리고 있는 한국 전국여성농민연합총회의 토종씨앗지키기 운동과 인도 나바단야의 씨앗 지키기 운동을 실행하고 있는 여성 농민들 대상해 현장 연구와 개인 인터뷰를 통해서 이 소위 낙후된 관습을 되찾은 이유를 알고자 했다. 연구 결과, 여성농민들은 씨앗을 지키는 이유 중 첫째는 소득 보장이었다. 이는 여성농민들은 씨앗 지키고 농사 짓는 일의 토대로 스스로 생계를 유지할 수 있고 이 운동은 하나의 소득 원천이 되었다는 것이다. 이는 식량주권의 담론을 넘어 해당 단체의 현실적인 토종 판매 네트워크가 존재하기 때문이다. 두번째는 여성 농민의 지위 향상 또는 공동체 형성이며 이는 농업에서 본 자리를 잃은 여성농민들에게 자신의 지위를 향상할 수 있는 기회를 주며 여성들의 차매애로 통해 산업화 과정에서 파괴된 농촌 공동체를 되찾는 것을 볼 수 있었다. 세번째는 토종씨앗 지키기와 여성 농민의 문화적 기억, 건강과 환경이다. 문화적 기억은 토종 농산물을 둘러싼 요리, 식생활, 관습, 농사 방식 등을 포함한 말이다. 이와 덧붙어 여성 농민과 그들의 가정의 건강 또는 환경을 보호하는 마음은 토종 씨앗을 지키게 된 이유 중 하나로 확인되었다. 인도와 한국의 여성이 씨앗을 지키게 된 동기부여가 유사하게 나온 만큼 현재 농식품체제로 인해 삶의 문제를 겪고 있는 농민은 어느 한 개발도상국에 있는 것이 아니며 소위 낙후된 관습을 고도성장하는 인도 또는 급속한 개발과정 끝에 선지국으로 손꼽히는 한국에서도 찾을 수 있는 것이 현재 세계의 농민층, 특히 여성 농민이 취약해진 상황에 놓여있는 것을 보여주고 있다. 본 연구에서 아시아의 두 가지의 여성농민운동이 보여주는 농민 문제는 초국가적 과정으로 인해서 생긴 것만큼 앞으로 나가야 할 대안의 길도 초국가적일 수 있다.
The agricultural practice of seed-saving has been one of the central tasks shouldered by women in rural farming-based societies across the world. However, with the onset of twentieth century, events like colonialism, industrialization, green revolution and globalization caused a fundamental shift in the agricultural and food systems of the world, especially in newly independent countries like India and South Korea. Food consumed worldwide is increasingly based on fewer crop varieties and seeds have widely become a commodity. As such, the majority of indigenous seeds have been lost and the practice of seed-saving has seen a rapid decline. This paper attempts to study two indigenous seed-saving movements by the women members and peasants of Korean Womens Peasant Association (KWPA) in South Korea and the women-based non-governmental organization Navdanya, in India. The paper also seeks to answer why the members of these two organizations chose to seed-save indigenous varieties of crops, in spite of it being considered a backward or pre-developmental practice, by analyzing textual materials produced by these organizations and conducting personal interviews conducted at KWPA centers in Hoengseong (Gangwon-do) and Geochang (Gyeongsangnam-do) in South Korea and at Navdanya biodiversity farm in Uttarakhand, India.
Three similar reasons could be identified from the respondents answers across the two organizations. The first amongst them was the need for livelihood. Partaking in the movements proved to be a source of income contributing to womens livelihoods. Over and above the discourse of food sovereignty, the movements were seen to have realistic market networks which enabled the women to get a fair price for their indigenous crop produce. The second reason was seen to be womens need for strengthening their status and developing new community bonds. With the loss of indigenous seeds, women lost their important seed-saving role in rural society. In addition, during the development period in Korea, most men and young women from rural villages and towns moved to the cities in search for work which resulted both in the feminization and displacement of rural communities. Such a phenomena can also be witnessed in India presently. Therefore, it was seen that the mobilization of women under the cause of seed-saving and the sharing of seeds developed bonds of sisterhood equipping the women with the solidarity required for lobbying and protesting for the various causes relevant to rural women and also created a sense of community that had fast evaporated in their respective towns and villages. The third and final cause was the womens need to preserve cultural memory, health and the environment. Preserving local food culture, rituals and other practices surrounding indigenous crops was an important factor for women of both organizations in preserving seeds. In addition, in the face of polluting influence of fertilizer/weedicide-heavy hybrid and GMO farming, the preservation of their local environment and health of their families proved to be important concerns as well.
While there exist vast differences between the two countries and organizations, all of these three major reasons were largely similar, proving that the present food and agriculture sector has caused distress to peasants worldwide, especially women peasants in the global south. In spite of India being one of the fastest developing countries in the world and South Korea joining the list of developed countries of OECD, the position of women peasants in both of these countries has been affected negatively by the events of twentieth century as well as corporate monopolization of food and agricultural market, unfair trade policies and the commodification of natural resources like seeds and hence, they are engaging in food and seed sovereignty movements like saving indigenous seeds. Similarities between these two women-based movements from two Asian countries throw light at the transnational nature of the problem of agriculture in the present age and as such, suggests that the way forward may also be transnational.
Language
kor
URI
http://dcollection.snu.ac.kr/common/orgView/000000160002
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