Glenn Stone | Washington University in St. Louis (original) (raw)
Papers by Glenn Stone
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
Agricultural change refers not just to the evolution of agricultural technology, but to patterns ... more Agricultural change refers not just to the evolution of agricultural technology, but to patterns emerging from regular changes in what, where, and how farmers cultivate. Its importance goes beyond amounts produced, costs and profits, and environmental effects; agricultural change is closely linked to various societal institutions and to population. The two most influential works on agricultural change both focus on relationships between farming and population: Malthus saw farm production as a key factor limiting population, while Boserup saw population increase as a stimulant to increased production with higher input costs. Little research has supported Malthus; more has supported Boserup although her model now appears to be oversimplified, neglecting social, economic, ecological, and political factors that shape agricultural change.
Human Ecology, 2017
In the Warangal district of Telangana, India, poor farmer knowledge, rapid seed turnover, and far... more In the Warangal district of Telangana, India, poor farmer knowledge, rapid seed turnover, and farmer conformist bias have resulted in faddish spikes in GM cotton seed popularity. We analyze space as a variable in 2715 seed choices by 136 farmers in two villages between 2004 and 2014, allowing us to model a decade of changes in farmers’ social learning across the village landscape. GIS analysis in combination with ethnographic research reveals shifting loci of seed certainty, in which different farmers were deemed worthy of emulation in different years. Over the study period, Warangal farmers were far more likely to emulate field neighbors’ cotton choices than they were to replant seeds, regardless of their crop yields. Rapid seed turnover and seed choice conformity was strongest among the comparatively poorer Scheduled Tribe farmers who live on the outskirts of the town proper. When the same farmers plant rice, their choices are more consistent through time and across space, suggesting that farmers learn about these two crops in very different ways.
Geographical Review, 2017
Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of MultidisciplinaryResearch, 2013
Agriculture and Human Values, 2014
A group of researchers and industry writers have constructed a narrative of technological triumph... more A group of researchers and industry writers have constructed a narrative of technological triumph for Bt cotton in India, based on an empirical record of superior performance compared to conventional seed. Counterclaims of Bt cotton failure are attributed to mutually reinforcing interactions among non-governmental organisations which avoid rigorous comparisons. However, researchers and the biotechnology industry are also engaged in a similar authentication loop for generating, validating, and publicising such facts. With Bt cotton, the convention of routinely ignoring the effects of selection bias and cultivation bias benefits researchers, journals and the industry, but keeps us from drawing meaningful conclusions about the relative performance of the technology. But as poor as the case for isolating the technology impact of Bt cotton in India has been, it is useful in helping us understand the social conventions for creating one’s “own facts”.
Social Science Computer Review, 1998
Social Science Computer Review, 1998
Social Science Computer Review, 2000
A survey of anthropology projects on the web finds little overall evolution of the field’s schola... more A survey of anthropology projects on the web finds little overall evolution of the field’s scholarly products to capitalize on the medium’s potential. However, a few of the most recent innovations appear to provide a glimpse of changes soon to come. Several new forms of nonrefereed scholarship have appeared, and an important theme running through them is the blurring of conventional boundaries. Within the refereed literature, few journals have ventured beyond the delivery of facsimile journal pages in portable document format (PDF) files. An important exception is the just-published online version of Current Anthropology, which offers numerous enhancements possible only through the web.
Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2010
Despite its use to exemplify how the world is “flat,” India is in many ways “spiky.” Hyderabad is... more Despite its use to exemplify how the world is “flat,” India is in many ways “spiky.” Hyderabad is a prosperous hub of information–communication technology (ICT) while its impoverished agricultural hinterland is best known for dysfunctional agriculture and farmer suicide. Based on the belief that a lack of knowledge and skill lay at the root of agrarian distress, the “e-Sagu” project aimed to leverage the city’s scientific expertise and ICT capability to aid cotton farmers. The project fit with a national surge of “last mile” projects bringing ICT to the village, but it was unique in using ICT to connect farmers directly with agricultural scientists acting as advisors. Such projects fit the interests of many actors, which has led to an unrealistic national enthusiasm about their impacts. This article uses the first five years of the project as a lens to view the cultural nature of both indigenous agricultural knowledge and “scientific” agricultural advising. Unlike lay publics whose ...
Field Methods, 2004
Anthropologists are increasingly returning from the field with digital images and other media, al... more Anthropologists are increasingly returning from the field with digital images and other media, along with their field notes. This article lays out the “Web site model” for integrating digital images, audio, and other media files into unified field note documents through the use of a Web page editor. It explains how to generate multimedia galleries and link them within textual documents, to help restore the intuitive relationships between image, sound, and word that earlier technological limitations dissolved. This allows the ethnographer to review descriptions of particular events, interviews, or periods of participant observation with all the available forms of recording, as part of a single text, rather than artificially separating out the review process by medium.
Current Anthropology, 1991
Current Anthropology, 2001
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
Agricultural change refers not just to the evolution of agricultural technology, but to patterns ... more Agricultural change refers not just to the evolution of agricultural technology, but to patterns emerging from regular changes in what, where, and how farmers cultivate. Its importance goes beyond amounts produced, costs and profits, and environmental effects; agricultural change is closely linked to various societal institutions and to population. The two most influential works on agricultural change both focus on relationships between farming and population: Malthus saw farm production as a key factor limiting population, while Boserup saw population increase as a stimulant to increased production with higher input costs. Little research has supported Malthus; more has supported Boserup although her model now appears to be oversimplified, neglecting social, economic, ecological, and political factors that shape agricultural change.
Human Ecology, 2017
In the Warangal district of Telangana, India, poor farmer knowledge, rapid seed turnover, and far... more In the Warangal district of Telangana, India, poor farmer knowledge, rapid seed turnover, and farmer conformist bias have resulted in faddish spikes in GM cotton seed popularity. We analyze space as a variable in 2715 seed choices by 136 farmers in two villages between 2004 and 2014, allowing us to model a decade of changes in farmers’ social learning across the village landscape. GIS analysis in combination with ethnographic research reveals shifting loci of seed certainty, in which different farmers were deemed worthy of emulation in different years. Over the study period, Warangal farmers were far more likely to emulate field neighbors’ cotton choices than they were to replant seeds, regardless of their crop yields. Rapid seed turnover and seed choice conformity was strongest among the comparatively poorer Scheduled Tribe farmers who live on the outskirts of the town proper. When the same farmers plant rice, their choices are more consistent through time and across space, suggesting that farmers learn about these two crops in very different ways.
Geographical Review, 2017
Food, Culture and Society: An International Journal of MultidisciplinaryResearch, 2013
Agriculture and Human Values, 2014
A group of researchers and industry writers have constructed a narrative of technological triumph... more A group of researchers and industry writers have constructed a narrative of technological triumph for Bt cotton in India, based on an empirical record of superior performance compared to conventional seed. Counterclaims of Bt cotton failure are attributed to mutually reinforcing interactions among non-governmental organisations which avoid rigorous comparisons. However, researchers and the biotechnology industry are also engaged in a similar authentication loop for generating, validating, and publicising such facts. With Bt cotton, the convention of routinely ignoring the effects of selection bias and cultivation bias benefits researchers, journals and the industry, but keeps us from drawing meaningful conclusions about the relative performance of the technology. But as poor as the case for isolating the technology impact of Bt cotton in India has been, it is useful in helping us understand the social conventions for creating one’s “own facts”.
Social Science Computer Review, 1998
Social Science Computer Review, 1998
Social Science Computer Review, 2000
A survey of anthropology projects on the web finds little overall evolution of the field’s schola... more A survey of anthropology projects on the web finds little overall evolution of the field’s scholarly products to capitalize on the medium’s potential. However, a few of the most recent innovations appear to provide a glimpse of changes soon to come. Several new forms of nonrefereed scholarship have appeared, and an important theme running through them is the blurring of conventional boundaries. Within the refereed literature, few journals have ventured beyond the delivery of facsimile journal pages in portable document format (PDF) files. An important exception is the just-published online version of Current Anthropology, which offers numerous enhancements possible only through the web.
Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2010
Despite its use to exemplify how the world is “flat,” India is in many ways “spiky.” Hyderabad is... more Despite its use to exemplify how the world is “flat,” India is in many ways “spiky.” Hyderabad is a prosperous hub of information–communication technology (ICT) while its impoverished agricultural hinterland is best known for dysfunctional agriculture and farmer suicide. Based on the belief that a lack of knowledge and skill lay at the root of agrarian distress, the “e-Sagu” project aimed to leverage the city’s scientific expertise and ICT capability to aid cotton farmers. The project fit with a national surge of “last mile” projects bringing ICT to the village, but it was unique in using ICT to connect farmers directly with agricultural scientists acting as advisors. Such projects fit the interests of many actors, which has led to an unrealistic national enthusiasm about their impacts. This article uses the first five years of the project as a lens to view the cultural nature of both indigenous agricultural knowledge and “scientific” agricultural advising. Unlike lay publics whose ...
Field Methods, 2004
Anthropologists are increasingly returning from the field with digital images and other media, al... more Anthropologists are increasingly returning from the field with digital images and other media, along with their field notes. This article lays out the “Web site model” for integrating digital images, audio, and other media files into unified field note documents through the use of a Web page editor. It explains how to generate multimedia galleries and link them within textual documents, to help restore the intuitive relationships between image, sound, and word that earlier technological limitations dissolved. This allows the ethnographer to review descriptions of particular events, interviews, or periods of participant observation with all the available forms of recording, as part of a single text, rather than artificially separating out the review process by medium.
Current Anthropology, 1991
Current Anthropology, 2001
Journal of Political Ecology, 2018
In the influential "performance" model of agriculture, the appearance of the farm is the unintent... more In the influential "performance" model of agriculture, the appearance of the farm is the unintentional result of improvisational decision-making rather than the intentional result of design. However in many ways agriculture is explicitly intended to produce an appearance, often aimed at a specific audience. This phenomenon, termed agricultural spectacle, comes in many forms and serves varied aims. This article offers a theoretical framework beginning with a consideration of how agricultural spectacle differs from other classes of spectacle and from generalized societal spectacle as theorized by Debord. Most important in this regard is that agricultural spectacle generally functions as a form of synecdoche as it presents a temporal or spatial part as a representation of the whole agricultural operation. It also often relies on "captioning" to render ambiguous sights striking to viewers. But agricultural spectacle is highly diverse, as shown by exploring three axes of variation. The first axis concerns the extent to which agricultural activities are adjusted for their impact on viewers, as opposed to being conducted purely for utility and rendered spectacular after the fact. The second compares the intent of the agricultural spectacle. The last axis distinguishes scale, from plant part to field to farm to landscape.
Dans le modèle influent de «performance» de l'agriculture, l'apparence de la ferme est le résultat involontaire de la prise de décision en matière d'improvisation plutôt que le résultat intentionnel de la conception. Cependant, à bien des égards, l'agriculture vise explicitement à produire une apparence, souvent destinée à un public spécifique. Ce phénomène, appelé «spectacle agricole», prend de nombreuses formes et sert des objectifs variés. Cet article propose un cadre théorique commençant par une réflexion sur la différence entre le spectacle agricole et les autres classes de spectacle et sur le spectacle sociétal généralisé tel que théorisé par Debord. Le plus important à cet égard est que le spectacle agricole fonctionne généralement comme une forme de synecdoche car il présente une partie temporelle ou spatiale en tant que représentation de l'ensemble de l'exploitation agricole. Il repose également souvent sur le «sous-titrage» pour rendre les vues ambiguës frappantes pour les téléspectateurs. Mais le spectacle agricole est très diversifié, car l'exploration de trois axes de variation sera révélée. Le premier axe concerne la mesure dans laquelle les activités agricoles sont ajustées en fonction de leur impact sur les téléspectateurs, au lieu d'être menées uniquement pour des raisons d'utilité et rendues spectaculaires après l'événement. La seconde compare l'intention du spectacle agricole. Le dernier axe distingue l'échelle, d'une partie d'une plante à un champ, à une ferme et à un paysage.
En el influyente modelo del "performance" de agricultura, la apariencia de la granja es el resultado involuntario de la improvisada toma de decisiones, más que el resultado intencional del diseño. Sin embargo, la agricultura es, en muchos sentidos, explícitamente planeada para producir una apariencia normalmente dirigida a una audiencia particular. Este fenómeno, denominado espectáculo agrícola, se presenta de diversas formas y tiene varios objetivos. Este artículo ofrece un marco teórico que comienza considerando cómo el espectáculo agrícola difiere de otros tipos de espectáculo, así como de espectáculos sociales generalizados, tal como Debord teoriza. Aún más importante en este sentido, es que el espectáculo agrícola funciona normalmente como una forma de sinécdoque, al presentar una parte temporal o espacial como una representación de la operación agrícola completa. Frecuentemente también depende de un “subtitulado” que traduce impresiones ambiguas que resultan impactantes para los espectadores. Pero el espectáculo agrícola es muy diverso, como se demuestra al explorar tres ejes de variación. El primer eje refiere que tanto las actividades agrícolas se ajustan para su impacto en los espectadores, contrario a cuando están dirigidas únicamente por su utilidad y representada espectacularmente luego del hecho. El segundo eje compara la intención del espectáculo agrícola. El último eje distingue la escala, desde la parte de la planta al campo, a la granja y al paisaje.
Back in the late 1970's and early 80's, folks were beginning to use phytoliths to try to document... more Back in the late 1970's and early 80's, folks were beginning to use phytoliths to try to document the antiquity of maize in various areas. One night, over a few beers, Glenn and I were wondering, "Has anyone really looked at teosinte phytoliths?". We put together this little experiment and reported on it at the SAA's in San Diego in 1981. Glenn recently joked that we should publish our landmark paper. I found a copy, and voila here it is. Feel free to cite it in any way you want. We also looked at different phytoliths in different parts of the plants.
I still have reservations about phytoliths and taphonomy. If you compare early maize claims based on isolated phytoliths (or starch grains) with directly dated (TAMS) maize macrofossils, there are usually wide discrepancies. I do have a little more confidence in articulated phytoliths (multiple ones still stuck together).