Coffee and Community

We Are Told that simply by sipping our morning cup of organic, fair-trade coffee we are encouraging environmentally friendly agricultural methods, community development, fair prices, and shortened commodity chains. But what is the reality for producers, intermediaries, and consumers? This ethnographic analysis of fair-trade coffee examines the collective action and combined efforts of fair-trade network participants to construct a new economic reality.

Sarah Lyon is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky. She is interested in the intersection of culture, agriculture, consumption, and the global economy.