Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival

by Daniel Jaffee

Overview

Fair trade is a fast-growing alternative market intended to bring better prices and greater social justice to small farmers around the world. But what does a fair-trade label signify? This vivid study of coffee farmers in Mexico offers the first thorough investigation of the social, economic, and environmental benefits of fair trade. Based on extensive research in Zapotec indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Brewing Justice follows the members of the cooperative Michiza, whose organic coffee is sold on the international fair-trade market, and compares them to conventional farming families in the same region. The book carries readers into the lives of coffee-producer households and communities, offering a nuanced analysis of fair trade's effects on everyday life and the limits of its impact. Brewing Justice paints a clear picture of the dynamics of the fair-trade market and its relationship to the global economy. Drawing on interviews with dozens of fair-trade leaders, the book also explores the movement's fraught politics, especially the challenges posed by rapid growth and the increased role of transnational corporations. It concludes with recommendations to strengthen and protect the integrity of fair trade. This updated edition includes a substantial new chapter that assesses recent developments in both coffee-growing communities and movement politics, offering a guide to navigating the shifting landscape of fair-trade consumption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520282247
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/12/2014
Edition description:	First Edition, Updated Edition with a New Preface and Final Chapter
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Daniel Jaffee is Professor of Sociology at Portland State University. His book Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival received the C. Wright Mills Book Award. Learn more at www.danieljaffee.net.

Read an Excerpt

While his lyrics are thug-informed and filled with a snotty swagger, rapper A$AP Rocky cloaked himself in the crackle and reverb of witch house, and then connected the dots to hip-hop's druggy past, offering chopped (cut-up) and screwed (slowed-down) hooks that recalled the hypnotic world of DJ Screw, Three 6 Mafia, and Swishahouse. Mixtapes and the Internet were his platforms, while goth and Masonic designs were his imagery, and then somehow, some way, this polar opposite to what was poppin' in 2012 wound up in a Lana Del Rey video, performing next to Rihanna at the MTV Video Music Awards, starring in an EA Sports video games commercial, and on the RCA label with a three-million dollar contract. The reason is, he can create a batch of tracks as solid and addictive as the ones found on Long.Live.A$AP, his official debut album, which lands as a more ambitious, more polished alternative to his 2011 mixtape Live Love A$AP. Here, the album rolls out with the fan-tested title track and the near-perfect "Goldie," a calling-card single with all the wooziness, hypnosis, ambitiousness, and pimp talk ("Cause my chain came from Cuba, got a lock up on the link/And them red bottom loafers just to complement the mink") at proper levels. Later, the magic of "Goldie" will be punched up and reborn as an A$AP track that can welcome Drake, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar ("F**kin' Problems"), while Skrillex and Birdy Nam Nam bring dubstep and techno bleeping into the picture with ease ("Wild for the Night"); then there's "1 Train," where Kendrick, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, and Big K.R.I.T. help reclaim the posse cut for the dark side. With all the major-label-flavored bits tasting delicious, this debut goes the extra mile, anchoring it all with rich album cuts like "LVL," where Clams Casino coats A$AP in a beautiful nightmare. It's the closing "Suddenly" that seals the deal, coming off as haunted hip-hop jazz musically, but lyrically, the rapper is at his least abstract here, "thuggin' like Eazy-E in his prime," kicking "conscious rap" to the curb, and dropping some Master P quotes to prove he's "'bout it, 'bout it." In the end, A$AP Rocky comes off as rap's Jim Morrison, offering an accessible, attractive, and brutish journey into darkness while remaining true to his spirit. Same danger, same swagger, same dynamic tension, and the same bust-a-nut/blow-your-mind duality, so think of the Lizard King as a {|No Limit|} soldier and you are just about there. ~ David Jeffries

Table of Contents

List of Figures     vii
List of Tables     ix
Preface     xi
Introduction     1
A Movement of a Market?     11
Coffee, Commodities, Crisis     36
One Region, Two Markets     58
The Difference a Market Makes: Livelihoods and Labor     93
A Sustainable Cup? Fair Trade, Shade-Grown Coffee, and Organic Production     133
Eating and Staying on the Land: Food Security Migration     165
Dancing with the Devil?     199
"Mejor, Pero No Muy Bien Que Digamos": The Limits of Fair Trade     232
Strengthening Fair Trade     247
Conclusion     259
Acknowledgments     267
Research-Methods     271
Notes     285
Bibliography     307
Index     319