Politics of Patents and Biopiracy: Reading Inez Baranay's Neem Dreams

Abstract: This article examines Inez Baranay's novel Neem Dreams (2003), which offers a scathing critique of the biopiracy of traditional knowledge about plants. Drawing on the eminent Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva's philosophical insights into the question of biopiracy, the article analyzes how Baranay has foregrounded the issue of the commercialization of plants and their scientific properties. The article also explores how globalization, in the name of development, has promoted "secular recolonization" and the dominance of transnational capitalism, adversely affecting the economy and societies of the developing world. Critically analyzing Baranay's novel and her eco-feminist/fictional resistance to the issue of biopiracy, the article considers the implications of biopiracy and its misappropriation of traditional knowledge apropos the neem tree.