The southern Peruvian Andes is birthplace to the potato; for centuries it has underpinned rural life, shaping landscapes, livelihoods, culture and society. The Cuzco region remains a biodiversity hotspot, yet the varied sociocultural roles played by 4,000+ native potatoes are understudied, compared to potato genetics, productivity and commodification; little research integrates the perspectives of those communities most intimately connected, leaving an incomplete picture upon which to make urgent decisions around climate mitigation and adaption. 

Climatic and sociopolitical pressures accelerate the urgency; rural youth migration restricts the intergenerational oral transmission keeping traditional potato knowledge alive, leaving the region vulnerable to biocultural heritage loss. This innovative participatory project addresses locally and globally-identified needs; contributing towards a more holistic understanding of how climate change is impacting this unique geography and its communities; protecting biocultural heritage and knowledge for future generations; and decolonizing international dialogue around climate change, agriculture and food security.

My project aims to explore the varied sociocultural roles played by the potato in the Peruvian Andes, in collaboration with the Potato Park’s five farming communities and its founding Indigenous organisation, Asociacion ANDES. Documenting potato knowledge from the perspective of communities themselves, the project will take the novel approach of participatory video to provide a more holistic picture of the potato - one that moves beyond the Eurocentric regard of potato as food and commodity. In doing so, the research brings the human into dialogue with biophysical, and Indigenous worldviews into conversation with Western perspectives, closing knowledge gaps that stem from disciplinary, linguistic, geographical and epistemological boundaries.

My project - Roots: Exploring Indigenous biocultural heritage through participatory action research in Peru - is hosted by the University of Leeds under the Leverhulme-funded Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme. I am co-supervised by Professors Stephen Whitfield, Thea Pitman and Ipek Demir in the Schools of Earth & Environment, Languages, Cultures & Societies, and Sociology.