Abstract
Does fair trade operate as economic development for farmers and artisans of the Global South, or is it a social movement that speaks to neo-liberal political subjectivities of the Global North? Fisher’s (Cult Agric 29(2):78–88, 2007) framework of “articulating modes of social transformation” allows both interpretations to be relevant. I use interviews, participant observation at a Chicago fair trade organization, and discourse analysis of fair trade materials to “study up” (Nader in Reinventing anthropology, Vintage Books, London, 284–311, 1969) the side of fair trade partnerships that exercise more economic power. I argue that participation in fair trade offers Northerners a way to reconcile their recognition of possessing disproportionate wealth in the global economic system with their uncertainty of how to create structural change in that system. Because fair trade calls on Northern consumers to make change at the individual level, the identities of Southern producers at the “underdeveloped” end of trade relationships are constructed in depoliticized, acontextual ways, thus limiting the possibilities for conceptualizing more radical transformation of poverty in the Global South.
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Notes
“And men” usually comes as an afterthought in this statement.
As of March 2009.
A U.K. grocery store.
Some industry officials claimed that Tesco’s decision would enhance its reputation for environmental responsibility, since Dominica has been recognized internationally for its conservation policies (Moberg 2005: 10).
Applicants go through an FTF screening to ensure adherence to these principles and practices, the details of which can be found online: http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/d/sp/d/sp/i/178/pid/178, http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/d/sp/a/GetDocumentAction/i/12162.
Today fair trade is also closely associated with “green” and organic trends in consumer culture.
e.g. Fair Trade Day, Mother’s Day, International Women’s Month.
Her position in the organization changed a few months after my research, and MayaWorks hired a new customer service associate.
The community was located in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan.
In my fieldwork, these standards were articulated primarily as fair wages and safe working conditions.
When I asked what she mean by “bad,” she talked about the poor working conditions and unfair wages.
This community group had formed around common concerns over cultivating crops, feeding families, and marketing weavings.
The description from the film’s website: “As westerners revel in designer lattes and cappuccinos, impoverished Ethiopian coffee growers suffer the bitter taste of injustice. In this eye-opening expose of the multi-billion dollar industry, Black Gold traces one man's fight for a fair price.”
An item I found in the MayaWorks archival binders.
Johnston discusses encountering this theme at fair trade seminars. She writes, “This moral imperative to vote in the marketplace was not accompanied by discussion, or even recognition of the skewed distribution of ‘votes’ (dollars) in consumer society (2002: 45).
Varul (2008) accepts the premise that fair trade counteracts the hidden nature of social processes determining production viewed by Marx, but says that fair trade accomplishes only partial de-fetishization because it effects a romantic commodification of people and places that relies on notions of distance and authenticity.
The profile of Doña Rosa appeared in the winter 2005 MayaWorks newsletter and was featured on the website’s “About Our Artisans” page throughout my fieldwork. At some point during writing, the profile was removed from the website, and short descriptions of five artisan groups appeared on the “About Our Artisans” page. Links to the three longer group profiles remain on that page.
This corresponds to Ferguson’s (1994) findings that the development apparatus in Lesotho depoliticizes the problems it addresses as a necessary function of creating its own bureaucratic state power. Hence, I have adapted the title of my paper from that of his book, The Anti-Politics Machine.
She compares fair trade consumerism with the lifestyle politics of the environmental movement, saying “Like green consumerism, fair consumption means consuming differently, not consuming less.” She also points an important difference from green consumerism, though: “Large corporations usually controlled and orchestrated the shift towards green-washing their products. In the case of fair trade, development workers in the non-profit sector work on a much smaller scale and with explicit humanitarian objectives.”
“Economic justice” is a term that the staff members used commonly in describing their mission. As one of the women said, “it’s kind of a buzz term around here.”
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the staff members at MayaWorks for engaging in my research and making me feel wholly welcome during my fieldwork at their office. Thank you to Adrienne Pine for her foundational directions on this project and Nell Gabiam for guiding me through its development. My case study in Chicago was made possible by a Capstone grant from the American University Honors Program.
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Newhouse, K.D. Anti-politics movement. Dialect Anthropol 35, 83–110 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-010-9220-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-010-9220-8