ABSTRACT
One of the indispensable links in the reproduction of potato farming over time, is the continuous selection and multiplication of potato seed.1 In the Andean highlands these tasks still are, to a certain degree, integral parts of farm labour as praxis. They imply a specific structuring of time and space, as well as the management of a specific knowledge system, which can be described as art de la locality (Mendras 1970). In this paper I will first briefly discuss some general features of art de la localité as it manifests itself in agriculture. Then I will highlight several aspects of a particular local knowledge system, which is to be found among potato growers in the Andean highlands. Special attention will be given to those aspects related to the management of potato breeding. Finally, the now rapidly spreading scientific knowledge system, which entails new methods of potato selection and which tends towards a rapid marginalization of local knowledge, will be discussed.
