The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry

My new book is due out in September, 2013:  The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry published by Palgrave Macmillan.

I am seeking endorsers and funders for further research into Quinoa in December 2013 ($5,000 sought).  Please contact me if you are interested (tstenn (at) keene.edu).

Here's the (unedited)  PREFACE:

This book is a journey deep into the depths of Fair Trade exploring first the phenomenon of Fair Trade, how it originated and developed, who the players are today, and the different ways in which Fair Trade is understood and engaged in on a global level.  This macro-view of Fair Trade includes economic and development theory and examines the concept and goals of Fair Trade as an institution.  The book then moves into a micro-view of Fair Trade as it is applied in Bolivia.  New ways of understanding and realizing Fair Trade emerge as Bolivian culture, history and people converge to build a unique context in which trade takes place.  Delving even further into the Fair Trade experience, indigenous Andean women engaged in two different types of Fair Trade, handicrafts and agriculture, are studied in a deeply personal ethnographic account of Fair Trade’s impact on women’s lives.  The book culminates in a theoretical analysis of women and leadership and cultures’ affect on management and outcomes.  Woven throughout the journey is the theme of justice with glimpses of how it is enhanced and not, within the Fair Trade context.  Many twists and turns emerge as Fair Trade and justice is experienced and understood in different ways.  I, as the author, am a US based 15-year veteran of Fair Trade with a long personal connection to Bolivia through my children’s family and work.  Throughout this book, I strive to present an authentic view of events and concepts, honor the experiences of people and place, and present an honest analysis of the dynamic changes sweeping across Bolivia affecting Fair Trade, women and ways of being.

Life is an interdisciplinary experience.  In the spirit of living, this book too is written in an interdisciplinary style enabling the phenomena of trade to be understood ethnically, socially, politically, economically, interculturally and from a gender perspective.  Grounded theory is presented from the academic disciplines of management, economics and anthropology.  This text presents many jumping off points for further analysis and exploration.  Interactive exercises are presented at the end of each chapter to prompt greater exploration into a theme or phenomena and enable connections to arise between theory, self and community. The text is written in four parts.  The following explains how each part is broken down by chapters and exercises.

Part I

Part I presents a macro view of Fair Trade and builds the platform upon which one can examine the idea of fairer trade and justice.  It creates language, context and breaks down complex issues of trade into four pillars; government, producers, consumers and institutions, enabling trade to be understood from multiple perspectives.  These multiple perspectives are analyzed and supported by Amartya Sen’s ideas of justice.  The overarching theme of Sanskrit’s niti and nyaya justice are introduced in Part I; niti being the detailed, concise idea of justice enforced through laws, rules and regulations and nyaya the broad view of justice realized through intention, context and multiple perspectives.  In addition Sen’s concepts of plural grounding, a way of looking at a situation from different sometimes conflicting perspectives and seeing it as a whole; comparative broadening, a method of deeply understanding something by comparing it to something that it is not; and public reasoning, the creation of space for diverse and rarely heard voices to be heard are applied throughout Part I to create a language and context in which justice can be discussed throughout subsequent Parts as well.

More specifically, Part I is broken down into five chapters, the first is the history of Fair Trade with an exercise exploring commonalties and traits of Fair Trade’s early pioneers.  The next four chapters focus on the four pillars that collectively enable Fair Trade to exist.  Each pillar is presented independent of the others, with its own analysis and exercises designed to deepen one’s awareness and understanding of Fair Trade and justice.  Chapter Two focuses on Fair Trade institutions, their different approaches, and challenges faced by the industry as Fair Trade scales up.  The question as to whether Fair Trade is exclusively for small producers or if large land holders can also participate is presented as well as a discussion about the justice of large corporations carrying Fair Trade brands without being Fair Trade themselves. The Chapter Two exercise enables participants to engage in a “fishbowl” discussion to explore different perspectives of Fair Trade and growth.  Chapter Three introduces the theory of rational choice and explores the rationality of Fair Trade engagement by consumers and the challenges they face.  Concepts such as akrasia, bounded rationality and sustained reasoning are explored as consumer motivation is unpacked and looked at from a justice perspective.  The Chapter Three exercise presents an opportunity for readers to engage in an ongoing consumer study of Fair Trade.  Chapter Four is about Fair Trade producers and creates a socio-economic and cultural context in which Fair Trade can be experienced.  Sen’s capabilities approach is applied making the manner in which Fair Trade is accessed and understood by producers, and the consequence of this relationship, become important.  The subsequent exercise engages readers in active, online research of producers with analysis and critical thinking.  Chapter Five presents the role of government and policy in supporting justice within a producer or consumer country both in the trade arena and amongst citizens in general.  Sen’s idea of a functioning democracy is presented here and tied in to justice.  The Chapter Five activity enables participants to develop a functioning democracy using public reasoning to more deeply understand and resolve a pre-determined problem. 

PART II

Part II takes the global phenomena of Fair Trade and closely examines it in the context of Bolivia and the indigenous women working in Fair Trade.   A combination of the author’s personal experience, case studies, ethnographic study and historical data crate a rich depiction of the dynamics and contradictions of Fair Trade in Bolivia.  Bolivia is similar to many countries in the developing world in that it has high poverty, poor education and a lack of infrastructure and industry.  It is different in that the people share strong cultural beliefs, embrace indigenous rule and take a deeply democratic approach towards governance.  Fair Trade guidelines however are the same across countries and gender.  Part II presents a micro-view of Fair Trade examining its effects within the context of Bolivia’s indigenous women, an understudied though important population of Fair Trade.  Part II chapters present a political history and context for understanding Bolivia and Fair Trade in the Andean region, developing a close, personal view of Bolivia’s indigenous Fair Trade women.  Chapter Six introduces the Andean concept of Suma Qamana, good living for all.  Indigenous organizational units of minka, mita, ayllu and ayni are introduced as well as an examination of the steps that led to the re-emergence of this ancient system of governance.  Neoliberal reforms, development policy, and decentralization are explored here.  The Chapter Six exercise entails participants exploring their own local governance, its function and roots.  Chapter Seven extends beyond Bolivia and looks at emerging models of South American Fair Trade, Comercio Justo, and how they are realized through trade alliances and constitutional reforms that center on sustainability and collective well being rather than personal gain.  The parenthesis man is presented as a way in which to understand motivation in the context of the Social Solidarity Economy, a world-wide model of greater economic collaboration, sustainability and mutual gain.  The Chapter Seven exercise focuses on the discovery and mapping of the Social Solidarity Economy in ones own community and is linked to a global mapping project.

PART III

Part III presents a detailed ethnographic study of the roots and heart of Fair Trade, the indigenous women themselves. Not always visible from within the family home and often not present in leadership roles, women producers are easily overlooked and the least studied and known part of Fair Trade.  The author’s deep connections to Bolivia’s indigenous women and Andean ways of being gives readers access to a world not always seen by outsiders.  Part III contains studies of women in two types of Fair Trade, handicrafts and agriculture, and creates a broader view and deeper understanding of how Fair Trade is experienced in different contexts.  In addition, it looks specifically at women’s leadership at a time of revolutionary change in Bolivia; one marked by indigenous rule and the emergence of women’s rights spelled out and protected by a new national constitution.  Chapter Eight engages ethnographic study, participatory rural appraisal and methods of thick description to capture the lives of Bolivia’s indigenous women knitters in the highlands.  Themes of migration, climate change and gender empowerment arise as the women define the effect of their Fair Trade participation in their own words.  The Chapter Eight activity enables readers to apply participatory rural appraisal methods to better understand or respond to a need within their own community.   Chapter Nine takes readers to jungle mountainsides where indigenous women Fair Trade coffee growers work with small family cultivations.  The history and impact of development is studied in the context of coffee as Bolivia’s new Fair Trade coffee quickly became a multi-million dollar industry.  The women describe their struggles to realize their own identity within the collective of the family and identify, in their own words, the effect that Fair Trade farming has on their lives.  The Chapter Nine activity applies comparative broadening to explore differences in business models from the highlands cottage industry of the knitters to the jungle co-operatives of the coffee farmers.  Chapter Ten presents a comparative analysis of the experience of indigenous women from the same cultural group, working under identical Fair Trade guidelines, within the same country but in different industries, handicrafts versus agriculture. Issues of female deprivation, poverty and identity are explored.  Sen’s capabilities approach is applied to women’s functionings to understand where and how Fair Trade enables justice to be realized for women in both industry sectors.  The Chapter Ten activity invites participants to “adopt” a Fair Trade producer group and conduct research into producers’ own experiences with Fair Trade and how it affects them. 

PART IV

Part IV takes a step back to provide a specific look at women’s leadership and intercultural management within the context of Bolivia and Fair Trade, thus completing the full Fair Trade experience.  Chapter Eleven examines Bolivia’s women leaders within both Fair Trade industries; handicrafts and agriculture.  It looks at the recent history of women’s leadership theory, development, training and the understanding of feminism and how this plays out in Bolivia.   Through personal histories and in-depth interviews two different approaches towards women’s empowerment emerge.  Women’s Fair Trade leadership extends into the political arena as well as Fair Trade leaders take on national leadership roles through the work and support of the Constitutional Assembly and Bolivia’s new indigenous led government.    Women’s engagement in Sen’s functioning democracy and public reasoning support revolutionary change and reshape Bolivia.  The Chapter Eleven exercise introduces Open Space Technology and guides readers in using the tool to engage others in public reasoning to create greater understanding around a controversy within their own community.  Chapter Twelve introduces the work of Gert Hofstede and his cultural dimensions.  By understanding the cultural differences between Fair Trade’s producer and consumer countries, greater justice can be realized.  Engaged in comparative broadening differences in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity and long term orientation result in trade and gender challenges.  Sen’s Capabilities Approach is applied here too to broaden ones understanding of the role that interculturality plays in growing justice.  The final activity introduces participants to the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) and engages the use of intercultural assessments such as Edward Hall’s high context and low context ways of being.  Role plays and simulations enable participants to re-enact cultural challenges identified in Hofstede’s dimensions and understand them differently with a deeper intercultural knowledge.

I hope readers find the book insightful and thought provoking.  It has broadened my way of viewing trade, consumerism, community and sustainability and gives me new ways in which to approach growth, development and conflict.  I feel I am better able to refrain from passing judgment too quickly and have learned to value taking the time to seek out seldom heard voices and listen, letting different ideas emerge to today’s challenges and helping all of us to move towards greater justice.  Thank you for taking this journey with me.   

-Tamara