Olives, Presses, and the Pursuit of Pure Olive Oil: Technology and Knowledge Transformations in Rural Morocco

Funded by a Research Grant for the Study of Science, Technology, and Society

Iowa State University

Summary of the Statement of the Problem

This project investigates technological change in Morocco . In the Saharan villages of the Ziz Valley of Southern Morocco, as in much of North Africa and the Middle East , traditional agricultural technologies have proceeded through a wide range of organizational changes in response to colonialism, independence, and current trends of globalization.  New relationships between technology use and farmers are produced in the historical interactions between the state and communities.  While a number of anthropologists have investigated indigenous systems of knowledge and technology, few have incorporated the study of how farmers adapt alternative technologies without integrating “imported” flows into the traditional repertoire of practice. In this research, I am concerned with understanding (processual) changes in farmers’ use of olive oil processing technologies within a political ecology context because of the effect these changes have on the use of knowledge and the mobilization of social capital for technological reforms and adaptations (ecology taken at its broadest sense to mean both the natural, technological, and political environments humans occupy).  These complex issues currently shaping development in Southern Morocco are illustrative of the social change associated with economic restructuring in many developing countries.  Studies of technological change, when grounded in anthropological and historical analyses, can highlight the opportunities and constraints for adaptation and innovation in the development process.  This project will be the basis for publications on themes at the crossroads of science, technology, and society.