Anthropology of Intellectual Property…

Anthropology of Intellectual Property Rights: Science and Native Knowledge of Biological Resources in Contemporary India
Moe Nakazora

210 mm x 148 mm
304 pages
JPY 5,200
ISBN 9784790717270
Pub date: February 2019

Who owns the knowledge? What happens when the concept of “intellectual property rights” is introduced to India, a country with abundant medicinal herbal resources?-Based on meticulous fieldwork, this book elucidates. This unique theory of ownership presents the concept of ownership not as compensation for past labor, but as a responsibility for the future.

Points of Appeal
1) Questioning whether the Western concept of intellectual property rights is truly universal
2) Thinking about how to own the ever-changing knowledge and pass it on to the future
3）Proposal of the new concept “property rights open to the future”

Table of Contents
Introduction: Knowledge as “someone else’s”

Part I. When knowledge becomes someone else’s

　Chapter 1 An ethnography of the generation of the ownership subject
　Chapter 2 Fieldwork on indigenous knowledge and intellectual ownership: Chasing translation

Part II. Traditional medicine and the ownership of biological resources

　Chapter 3 Ayurveda continues to be translated: The state and traditional medicine
　Chapter 4 The medicinal herb state of Uttarakhand and the “people’s biodiversity registry”

Part III. The “registration of people’s biodiversity” project: Scientists in practice

　Chapter 5 Scientists creating “indigenous knowledge”
　Chapter 6 Creating “owners of knowledge”

Part IV. Beyond “ownership entities”: Experiences of “people”

　Chapter 7 Beyond “indigenous knowledge”: Treatment as “effect” and cultural ownership
　Chapter 8 Nature and the creation of “responsible subjects”?: Herbalism and the relationships being created

End: Ownership opened up for the future
Preface / Acknowledgements / References / List of first publications / Index

Reviews
“A new theoretical framework for thinking about the commons and law is vividly presented, with fascinating insider insights based on fieldwork.”― Gakuto Takamura, legal philosopher

“It is an ambitious work that attempts to gain some legal and philosophical insights into the formation of intellectual ‘property’ rights in general.”―Yoshiyuki Tamura, jurist (intellectual property law)

“An ethnography that is a sharp departure from traditional theories of ownership”―Kei Nagao, anthropologist