Mascha Gugganig

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT MASCHA GUGGANIG

I am a sociocultural anthropologist and scholar in science & technology studies (STS) researching human engagements with agriculture, food, and the environment. My interests include (1) knowledge production, contested forms of expertise of, and technology use in agriculture and the environment;(2) public engagement with science and technology in museums and public spaces; and (3) collaborative inter- and transdisciplinary research through arts-based methods and multimodal ethnography. My current work is concerned with how agrobiodiversity is achieved through agroecology grassroots innovation and (digital) technologies, researched in collaboration with farming initiatives. In a technoscientific world, I study how epistemic communities, from Indigenous youth to activists, farmers, scientists and politicians, engage with the environment through agriculture and food, not least to create platforms for engagement. To this end, I curate students\' and researchers’ works in museums, galleries and at universities, and write academic publications and outreach for wider publics. How are digitization and innovation envisioned and implemented in agricultural policy for increasing \"sustainability\"? How do agroecological farmers\' innovation,(s)low-tech and DYI-farm hacking approaches foster agrobiodiversity? To study these diverse realities, I draw together insights from policy with ethnographic research and participatory workshops both to explore overlaps - design of digital tools for agroecology - and to question binary anti- vs pro-tech debates. I approached these questions as Principal Investigator (PI) in the research project \'Innovating Food, Innovating Europe?\'(funded by the German Research Foundation) on the EU level and in Germany, and as Co-PI in the Canadian research project \"Diversity by Design: emergent agricultural technologies for small-scale farming.\" In 20••••18, I was the PI for the EU-funded (EIT Food) Project \"Cultivating Engagement: a citizen participation forum on vertical farming.\" I have a continued interest in hopes and hypes of indoor vertical farming as proposal for the urban, and global food security. My doctoral research in Hawaiʻi explored diverse forms of expertise on the \'āina (colloquially translated as land) in the context of agricultural biotechnology at a Hawaiian-focused charter school, the biotech industry, and a social movement concerned with biotechnology. I am also the book & media review editor for \"Science as Culture\", and co-founder/-admin \"STSFAN - Science & Technology Studies Food and Agriculture Network.\"