Intro to Cultural Anthropology Notes 4/5/10

How does global production/consumption shape opportunities for individuals and relationships between nations? Three commodities – broccoli, sushi and cocaine (and how their trade affects relationships) Global Connections – production, consumption, desire (three interconnected themes of today’s readings)

“The demands of the world market have eroded local subsistence economies for centuries.” à How so? Bolivia – South America – how does consumption of cocaine effect peasants in Bolivia (driving question of article) Coca Leaves – traditionally grown and consumed as mild stimulant, cocaine – a heavily processed narcotic derived from coca leaves Agricultural village – Pocona (agricultural village), Chapare (coca growing area) – people go to growing area to make money Problem – when people get imbedded in coca growing economy, people employing start supplying workers with drugs, become addicted, flow of cash dries up

Rural villages depleted of work force. Families and traditional cultural patterns disintegrate. People can no longer afford local products that suddenly become valued in the West. From mild stimulant to heavy intoxicant (coca leaves to beverages) Barefooted pisacocas stomping leaves soaked in kerosene, salt, acetone and sulfuric into paste

Young men become permanently disabled: Chemicals dissolve pisacocas skin so they lose use of feet and hands.

More land used for coca production than food production (peasants must buy food) – peasants remove land from agricultural food production to make coca leaves. Impoverishment drains labor from rural farming areas (loss of labor = less production).

Rural poverty gets worse (especially as the young and able become disabled). Economic disparities increase (those who control production/distribution profit). Small farmers targeted for growing more profitable coca.

(Atlantic Bluefin Tuna) How did this fish become a highly sought after global commodity? How did the globalization of tuna change: Economic practices (e.g., fishing) Consumption habits (e.g., eating)Pre-global Tuna era (1950s-1970s): cheap food, cat food Companies trying to convince you to eat this food – equated as cheap meat, even the government says you should eat it, not a global commodity with much value Points Connects US, Japan in global network Globalization is not Westernization (flows of info/commodities/technologies go both ways). Sushi = example of acculturation in America of Japanese cuisine (long term contact, starting to borrow from each other, starting to eat each others’ foods)

From strange foreign item (1970s – low demand) To upscale fare (1990s – high demand) Americans changing diets (less red meat) Adapting to mnew markets (Kosher sushi, cooked sushi, “California Roll”, etc.) Connections with socioeconomic class (marker economic standing and “worldliness”) – upper middle, upper class food (prestige food), going to sushi bar says something about your statusSushi so popular in the US today that you can go to grocery store, can find the stuff to make sushi

International competition for global commodity. Creation of international regulations to manage “stateless” fish that migrate extensively. Development of new, more intensive fishing techniques (e.g., traps and feed lots). Changes in fishing industry

Business relationships between Japanese buyers and American fishermen. American fishermen impacted by global markets (tuna prices). Opportunities for young Japanese to work abroad (sushi chef qualification = Japanese).

Lackluster vegetable *Article looking at connection between Pablo and Susan (Pablo – producer, Susan – consumer) Fieldwork conducted among: smallholders and middlemen in Guatemala, grocery shoppers in Nashville, Tennessee (multi-sited ethnography) Consumption, production – what ties them together? Much research on globalization view the world thru this lens (North – desire, affluence, South – need, poverty) Exploiters – North, Exploited – South **Not the lens used in this article

A “collective phenomenon shaped by interface of individual intentions, local worlds, and global flows.” Desiring “is an ongoing, future-oriented process.” A project that seeks to “make and remake the world around certain values.”

Desires specific to local worlds Yet local worlds are part of larger systems of production and trade Collective Experiences, cultural images, political economic structures Pablo and Susan’s desires I want to get ahead and achieve something - Pablo I want to be healthy, responsible consumer – Susan Pablo – local experience of modernity – desire to belong in global economic system Susan – desire to live a conscientious life

A step beyond subsistence into market economy Requires surplus land. Demand from abroad. Market (prices, information) controlled by corporations and middle men. High risk, low returns – payoff can be ok but could be wiped out.

Smallholders: family farms where small amount of land is owned by the family which acts as the primary unit of production. Smallholders with relatively large landholding are relatively wealthy and can grow for foreign market. Feed family with milpa fields (basic subsistence crops such as corn, beans) Achieve relative affluence through export