ABSTRACT
This chapter presents ethnographic data on the ways in which genetically modified organism (GMO)-free activists in Jackson County constructed and articulated their motivations for joining the movement. Throughout the chapter, the author reflects upon her role as an anthropologist studying GMO-free activism in southern Oregon. The GMO-free activism considered in the chapter is mediated by local ecological, economic, and cultural considerations. Drawing on social movement theory and agrifood activism scholarship, the chapter suggests that motivations for GMO-free activism in Jackson County centered on localization of the food system, saving the family farm, and safeguarding biodiversity via the promotion of an ecologically sound and socially resilient community-based agrifood system. From the outset, one primary goal of the author's research was to analyze participant motivations for GMO-free activism in rural southern Oregon. The motivations and ideologies provide insight into what participants want to happen as a result of enacting GMO-free legislation at the county level.
