Comments on: “Fair Trade Wants You!” The Neoliberal Politics of Conscious Consumption

By: Charlene

Charlene — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:05:00 +0000

Excellent call for our desperate need of context. There are so many well-meaning organizations, individuals, and mindsets…but it is vital to understand how efforts are situated within the larger system, so that efforts do not simply reinforce the very issues they are trying to work against. I appreciate your speaking to that. I just wish such criticisms and active thoughts don’t have to come only from anthropologists or others considered “rogue”…hopefully one day your efforts will mean you no longer would be rogue given the increase in sheer number of others who are working in similar veins…

By: Between Criticism and Reflection « rogue anthropologist

Between Criticism and Reflection « rogue anthropologist — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:51:00 +0000

[...] has been taken as wholesale rejection of a project or action. (See the reader’s comment on my article about fair trade.) On the one hand, I could blame such interpretations on the fact that we are accustomed to [...]

By: Kara

Kara — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:51:55 +0000

Thanks for your question. As I noted in the section “Misrecognition,” education on the injustices of global trade is a stated goal of the fair trade movement. My argument is that making widespread change in the poverty of so-called Third World countries will not happen only by re-directing consumer dollars. Poverty is not a matter of people being unable to “help themselves” because of personal issues. Political structures and institutions (e.g. free trade agreements with Mexico or discrimination again Mayans in Guatemala) systematically prevent people from being able to sustain livelihoods, and therefore, political change is necessary to make a real difference. Without contextualizing the poverty experienced by fair trade producers, it becomes impossible to think of solutions that address the root causes.

I am not condemning the fair trade system as a whole, nor you and your store, but pointing out the complexities of the idea that we can discover singular, large-scale solutions to multifaceted problems. On the first level, artisans and farmers can obviously benefit from increased income, but on a structural level, where does “empowerment” leave them when, for example, the global economy crashes and First-World consumers are not making any purchases, fair trade or otherwise?

By: globalfayre

globalfayre — Mon, 10 May 2010 04:11:05 +0000

I read your post with interest, but I really don’t get what you are trying to say.
You suggest that Fair Trade proponents create “depoliticized and acontextual identities” for the producers in the global south. You don’t expand on that suggestion by explaining why, if that is indeed the case, it is an issue.
As the co-owner of a Fair Trade store, I am very clear that our focus is on our mission of empowerment; helping people to help themselves. Ours is not a political stance, nor should it be. We just feel compelled to to extend our arm to those arms reaching from the many people worldwide (including here in the US).
Please clarify what your issue is with that.
Thank you

By: My Thesis in a Nutshell « rogue anthropologist

My Thesis in a Nutshell « rogue anthropologist — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:21:19 +0000

[...] Read it here on PULSE! http://pulsemedia.org/2010/05/08/%E2%80%9Cfair-trade-wants-you%E2%80%9D-the-neoliberal-politics-of-conscious-consumption/#more-23053 [...]