ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reception of Marquis wheat and spider goats at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum as launching points, and traces the public historical reception of macro- and micro-biotechnology in Canada. It explores the national and local public historical contexts behind their exhibition and interpretation, including the role of science and museums in national identity and heritage formation. The chapter examines the celebration of Marquis wheat before returning to the troubled story of the spider goats. The reactions to representations of Marquis wheat and spider goats test the public historical reception of micro- and macro-biotechnologies. The celebration of Marquis wheat is an example of the untroubled meta-narrative of settler colonial expansion in which it is placed. The transgenic spider goats tell a very different cultural story about Canadian agricultural science from that of Marquis wheat and, as such, they represent a different narrative lineage.
