Follow the fear: A multi-sited approach to GM

To understand and to investigate publicly voiced concerns over the consumption of Genetically Modified (GM) food from an anthropological perspective requires careful selection of an appropriate methodology. Given the complex nature of debates around GM, we use one specific event as our starting point - the New Zealand Royal Commission on GM. We have chosen a multi-sited ethnographic approach (Marcus, 1998) and used a bricolage technique to track the fear of GM food through several threads apparent in this public forum. These appear in positivistic arguments about consumer perceptions of GM, through media promotion of the term 'food scares' in relation to GM food and also through references to the cultural myth of Frankenstein. Tracking the fear allows one to understand and recognise the degree of ambivalence which always surrounds the act of eating and the appearance of new technologies associated with food production. It also makes clear the historical relationship between scientists and non-scientists and the cultural images in science fictions which have been important signifiers of this relationship.