i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

Systems Theory” is based in a global division of labor in which states are integrated into
the world market. In this system, states either comprise the core, semi-periphery, or
periphery in relation to capitalist modes of production. This “world system” recognizes
capitalists across nation-states that are in competition to accumulate capital. Wallerstein
refutes the notion of the First, Second, or Third Worlds. Instead, the “world system” is
composed of capitalists and laborers of varying degrees in all nation-states (Wallerstein
1974).
In Wallerstein’s narrative, the Bretton Woods Agreements of 1944 ushered in a
new system of rules, procedures, and institutions to govern the international monetary
system. The intention was to regulate monetary values as protection from another
economic depression. These agreements also instituted the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which later came
to be known as the World Bank. These entities were designed to reconstruct Europe after
the wartime devastation. Large-scale agriculture became a priority for international
development, which was exemplified in 1970 when Norman Borlaug received the Nobel
Peace Prize for developing a high-yielding and drought-resistant wheat strain.
The Green Revolution was an international development policy to employ
nitrogen-enriched, chemically produced fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides under the
assumption that the higher agricultural yields would feed impoverished communities
around the world. The World Bank, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation,
and USAID financed the Green Revolution innovations. According to Vandana Shiva,
these agencies “looked toward the intensification of agriculture as a means of
‘stabilizing’ the countryside” (1991:3). These technologies and innovations have
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