Feminist scholarship regards the Western scientific revolution and twentieth-century agricultural modernization as patriarchal endeavors andtechnoscientific regimes as entangled in societal interests and politics. In thisarticle, I engage with these perspectives by focusing on women scientistsworking in Brazil’s leading agricultural sciences organization, Embrapa.
Myanalysis draws on life history interviews with three women, juxtaposing theirpersonal and career trajectories with the history of the organization, which isa symbol of the triumph of science over nature. Besidesfilling the gaps in amale-dominated history, these women’s accounts reveal what I argue to befeminist struggles for more equitable and pluralistic agricultural sciences andpractices.
I refer to them as “fringe heroines” as they adopt research agendas that are at odds with the prevailing technoscientific paradigm and often find themselves subject to condescending attitudes and discrimination. These fringe heroines experienced a short-lived moment in the limelight during a period of progressive politics in Brazil.
However, confronted by a less favorable context during the Bolsonaro era, they have taken a step back but have maintained their resolve to swim against the tide in their unyielding quest for justice and diversity with respect to agricultural knowledge production. The time is ripe for reflecting on the place of their situated struggles and knowledges in the past, present, and future of Brazilian agricultural sciences.
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