The effects of reflection

Working on my dissertation I am planning how I will measure the effects of Fair Trade on Bolivia's alpaca knitting industry. An industry is made up of people. So I'm really asking how has fair trade effected the Bolivian's working with alpaca? And how has it?

How does one measure "effect"? Effect implies a value; something that is better or worse; a judgment. And where is this effect - in the culture, spirituality? How does one put a value on spirituality? If a knitter now owns and uses a cell phone to coordinate knitting, when before she would visit and talk with the person, is that an effect of Fair Trade? Is it good, bad, better, worse, progress, a cultural loss? And who is making this judgment? Me? A western Fair Trade comerciante from my lens of a white, privileged USA business owner? And what is this in comparison to, not having a cell phone? Or not having a reason to talk to a neighbor?

And is it fair to say, or imply, that only we can have an effect of something on something else? Isn't that dominating, condescending, arrogant? Aren't we all effected by each others' actions? So to make the study balanced, we should also look at the effect of Bolivia's knitters on their western Fair Trade customers. They have power to influence too.

The knitters might be effected by participating in the Western structure of Fair Trade commerce by learning to embrace deadlines, consistency, improvement, growth. But if we look at how their Fair Trade activities have effected western customers, we'll see that customers report to have gained feelings of thoughtfulness, connectedness, appreciation and participation; feelings that are priceless in today's impersonal, fast-paced, world.

If I were to draw a model of a sweater production, I would make a circle starting with grass, then the alpaca, then the herder, knitter, product, consumer. In the center would be the earth - since that is what we are all linked to; our common ancestor, pachamama - earth mother. And we revolve around it. In the traditional western trade model, we are always looking ahead at what comes next, planning for more. Fair Trade though, is also the looking back. The remembering of where something came from, who touched it, what nourished it. Human rights and the environment can not be separated. To care for the knitter on must care for the alpaca and the grass. We are all interconnected, we are tied to the earth.

I have discovered over time, "Sweaters slowly knit in silence are worn in fury and last and last, becoming our favorite garment, a friend, soon knit of our own memories." T. Stenn

And perhaps this is the effect Fair Trade has had on me, building my ability to reflect, question, mull, and repeat, again and again; Knitting my own garment of questions that can someday be seen and worn by all.