Toward a political economy of frictions in the global bioeconomy

The notion of the bioeconomy, referring to the potential of commercial applications coming out of life sciences research, has become a prominent element in innovation and economic development strategies. It does not only circulate widely around the world, it is also simultaneously imagined in terms of the global circulation of knowledge and technologies. Yet the global dimensions of the bioeconomic imaginary are simultaneously rooted in local manifestations of life science practices and the bioeconomy discourse and notions of the global.

We propose to apply Anna Tsing’s concept of ‘friction’ to make sense of the connections between particulars and universals in the bioeconomy. Tsing proposes this concept to understand how situated historical practices render political-economic projects of seemingly universal appeal practically effective, enacting their global connections in contradictory ways. As it illuminates the relations between the local and the global, the concept can be brought in conversation with key issues in STS, including the assemblage of universals, the global circulation of technoscience, and sociotechnical imaginaries.

We explore the potential of friction in the context of STS analysis of the bioeconomy by bringing together two cases; the bioeconomy of soy in Argentina, and the bioeconomy of human tissue in Singapore. In Argentina, policymakers instrumentally use ‘bioeconomy’ to entrench a networked form of agribusiness and transcend ideological patterns of classical Peronism. Through its frictional encounter with global biotechnological packages, the long-standing imaginary of Argentina as the granary of the world was significantly refreshed. In Singapore, a national biobank was established in 2001 to advance a national economic strategy rooted in biomedical research. Within this biobank, the global meaning of local research practices became contested and mediated through a national imagination of ‘Asianness’.

In conclusion, we consider what a focus on frictions may contribute to STS analysis of the bioeconomy, and beyond.