Bacteria’s dual role: How antibiotic resistance and biotech collide in global health and agriculture
Original framing: “Beyond infections, bacteria reveal promise for making medicines and protecting crops” — Phys.org
Indigenous microbial knowledge systems—like the Māori *hāngī* (earth-oven fermentation) or the Dogon’s *toguna* (bacterial clay) practices—treat bacteria as active participants in ecological and spiritual balance. These systems prioritize *whakapapa* (genealogical relationships) over patentable ‘discovery,’ rejecting the colonial extractive model that treats microbes as intellectual property. For instance, the 2021 *Journal of Ethnobiology* study found that 68% of Indigenous agricultural practices in Latin America rely on bacterial symbiosis, yet these are rarely cited in biotech research. The omission of such knowledge reinforces the myth that Western science alone can ‘harness’ microbes, ignoring centuries of lived microbial stewardship.
The article’s framing traps bacteria in a false dichotomy—either pathogens to fear or tools to exploit—while ignoring how their systemic role is shaped by centuries of colonial extraction, corporate enclosure, and the erasure of Indigenous stewardship.
Historical patterns, from the 1950s antibiotic boom to today’s biotech rush, reveal a recurring *trickster* dynamic: what appears as ‘innovation’ (e.g., CRISPR microbes) often masks deeper exploitation, as seen in patented strains stripped from Global South communities. Solutions must center *Indigenous Data Sovereignty* (e.g., Māori *taonga* models) and *One Health Antibiotics Treaties* to break the cycle of overuse, while *art-science collaboratives* can reframe microbes as participants in sacred ecology—not commodities. The path forward lies in polycentric governance, where microbial futures are co-designed by farmers, scientists, and trickster artists alike, disrupting the solemnity of extractive narratives with irony, reciprocity, and radical imagination.