Coffee and Community

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright Page

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Contents

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pp. v-

Acknowledgments

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pp. vii-ix

In fall 2005, several months after completing my Ph.D., I attended a Wenner-Gren conference for young researchers at which the foundation’s president, Leslie Aiello, sagely reminded...

1. Introduction

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pp. 1-21

Fair trade is a form of alternative trade that seeks to improve the position of disempowered small-scale farmers through trade as a means of development. The movement, which promotes labeling, certification...

2: The Historical Convergence of Local Livelihoods, the Global Economy, and International Politics

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pp. 23-53

A robust understanding of the cultural politics of fair-trade coffee and its attendant economic, social, and environmental processes is best gained through long-term ethnographic research among the principal actors. However...

3: “Trade Not Aid”: Assessing Fair Trade’s Economic Impact on Cooperative Members and Their Families

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pp. 55-79

Guatemala is one of the most impoverished nations in the Western Hemisphere and, like many Latin American nations, a region of stark financial inequalities. Approximately 75 percent of Guatemalans live...

4: Obligatory Burdens: Collaboration and Discord Within the Cooperative

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pp. 81-121

In April 2002 the cooperative held a general assembly meeting in the empty coffee warehouse that the group had recently built with members’ voluntary labor and the funds remaining...

5: The Political Economy of Organic and Shade-Grown Coffee Certification, Local Livelihoods, and Identities

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pp. 123-150

In the United States, a casual perusal of the fair-trade coffee offerings at the local supermarket or coffee shop will quickly reveal the extent to which fair trade and organic coffee certifications...

6: Managing the Maya: Power in the Fair-trade Market

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pp. 151-178

The cooperative’s beneficio is at the center of the flurry of activity accompanying the annual coffee harvest in San Juan; it is where members work rotating shifts and gather each afternoon to weigh their coffee...

7: Marketing the Maya: Fair Trade’s Producer/Consumer Relationships

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pp. 179-206

Beginning in May and lasting through October, Guatemala’s rainy season was so ferocious that it forced me to rearrange my daily activities. I am not an overly religious person; however, while making a late...

8: Conclusion: A Fairer Future

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pp. 207-213

When I first began this research, nearly a decade ago, few people I encountered were familiar with fair trade. I was forced to continuously explain the then-novel idea to my friends, family members, and colleagues. Today this...

Notes

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pp. 215-226

Works Cited

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pp. 227-257

Index

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pp. 259-266