Tuberous Heroes, Partial Examples, and the Making of Ethical Companions in Agricultural Collectives

Abstract

The history of capitalism features a number of glorified characters, such as Frederick the Great and Antoine Parmentier, lauded for contributing to national prosperity by purportedly introducing the prolific potato to the masses. This article redirects our attention toward vaunted varieties in the tuber population itself, which here are called tuberous heroes. While popularly dismissed as a humble crop, the potato has also been acknowledged as having changed world history for both the better and the worse. An analysis of these antagonistic evaluations reveals how struggles for the advent of tuberous heroism were also political campaigns for worlds to come. The concept of a partial example is introduced to account for the fragmented and situated tuber appreciation found at the center of potato domestication in Peru and is held in contrast to the agro-industrial search for supercrops. This exploration of shifting vegetal virtuosity highlights the ecological attunement of partial exemplarity when compared with the expected ubiquity of heroic and villainous crops. The contrast between heroic and partial exemplarity highlights how a plant becomes an ethical companion offering propositions for entangled flourishing.