Anthropology of Fairtrade: A Case of Coffee-Growing Area in Lao PDR

The purpose of this course is to understand how fairtrade—social, economic, and environmental standards designed to correct an economic inequality in international commodity chains—affects the livelihoods of disadvantaged producers and workers, based on the results of anthropological fieldwork. Producers and workers of cash crops such as coffee are reportedly forced to lead precarious lives due to exposure to fluctuations in international market prices. Therefore, an international standard known as "fairtrade" has been developed as an effort to support the livelihoods of producers and workers by setting guaranteed minimum prices and other measures. However, do producers and workers of cash crops lead the precarious lives that fairtrade organizations assume? Introducing the results of fieldwork in the coffee-growing region of Lao PDR, this course clarifies the livelihoods of coffee producers and examines the effectiveness of support through fairtrade from the perspective of cultural anthropology. At the same time, this course explores what the perspective of cultural anthropology entails.