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Bradley R. Wilson

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Bradley R. Wilson © 2010 BRADLEY R. WILSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BETWEEN MARKET AND MOVEMENT: THE FAIR TRADE COFFEE ‘BUYCOTT’ IN THE UNITED STATES AND NICARAGUA By BRADLEY RICHARD WILSON A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Geography written under the direction of Richard A. Schroeder and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey January 2010 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION BETWEEN MARKET AND MOVEMENT: THE FAIR TRADE COFFEE ‘BUYCOTT’ IN THE UNITED STATES AND NICARAGUA by BRADLEY R. WILSON Dissertation Director: Richard A. Schroeder Over the past two decades, social movements transformed the retail marketplace in the United States into a dynamic site for protest and reform. Product certification has become a central means for negotiating and resolving conflicts between social movement and market actors. The Fair Trade movement has been pivotal in the evolution of market- oriented campaigns in the United States by pioneering product certification and ensuring market penetration through mobilization of NGO and grassroots activist support. Fair Trade Certified coffee is the flagship product of the Fair Trade movement in the United States. What has made the Fair Trade movement unique among market-oriented social movement campaigns is that it presents retailers and consumers with an alternative to traditional boycotts - the purchasing of third party certified Fair Trade labeled products. This dissertation explores the tension between the product marketing and social movement imperatives of the Fair Trade coffee buycott campaign through multi-sited ethnographic research conducted within the United States - the largest coffee consuming country in the world - and Nicaragua - site of the first Fair Trade coffee exchanges in Central America. Over the course of two years of field study (2005-2007), I observed ii and interviewed U.S. activists who worked on the front-lines of buycott campaigns in the United States and Nicaraguan coffee farmers who labored in the fields that supply Fair Trade Certified coffee to U.S. retailers. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research presented in this dissertation is the product of many years of support from my friends, family, advisors, colleagues and informants. To them I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude. First and foremost I must acknowledge the openness and confidence of my informants in the United States and Nicaragua who generously shared their time and stories with me. In Nicaragua, I thank the farmers and cooperative officials in San Ramon whose lives, struggles and political commitments inspired me to take up this project. Special thanks to Christopher Bacon and Maria Eugenia Flores who introduced me to San Ramon and who put a roof over my head when I arrived during rainy season. I am also indebted to Alvaro Izaguerre whose research assistance and constructive feedback was critical to the evolution of my research in San Ramon. Of course the greatest thanks is to the many informants who offered time, meals, and support. For the sake of anonymity I must refrain from personal acknowledgements however much it pains me. In the United States I thank the leadership of the United Students for Fair Trade and their membership for inviting me into their lives and to study their organization. I first learned the possibilities and limits of Fair Trade activism from the passionate political vision of USFT activists. They intimately understand the complexity of Fair Trade. Special thanks to Joe Curnow, Joe Campe, Woodrow Curley, Shayna Harris, Haley Mackrow, Isaac Grody-Patinkin and the many others who energized me and reminded me that Fair Trade is more than a consumer’s option, but an idea and a movement rooted in transnational solidarity. iv I benefited from the advice and support of an excellent graduate committee. Thanks to Ethel Brooks for helping me to cultivate a multi-sited ethnography and consistently reminding me that it was not only possible, but vital to our understanding of transnational movements. To Tom Rudel for keeping his office door open, for answering many questions on agricultural cooperatives, and helping me to gain a teaching assistantship in the Department of Human Ecology. To Bob Lake for his unwavering support, for the numerous lunch conversations, and his insightful comments which challenged me to see the nuance and complexity of the market and movement dynamics of Fair Trade. Thanks to a wonderful cohort of graduate students in my time at Rutgers, Ben Neimark, John Wing, Sharon Baskind, Debarati Sen, Jijo Majmunder, Rich Nisa, Dillon Mahoney, Adam Pine, Adam Diamond, Mark Pendras, Za Barron, and Margo Andrews. A profound thanks to my advisor and mentor Rick Schroeder whose scholarship, guidance, and character has left an indelible mark on my life and career. Rick found a way to balance intense critique with generous moral support. He gave me space to find my own project while setting high standards for its presentation. He knocked me off my high horse when I was overzealous and his steady hand pulled me up to air when writing, the job hunt, and life itself seemed like too much. Of course, he gave a great deal of time to edit papers, proposals, job applications, presentations and of course the dissertation. Yet, the final product of these various tasks are just examples of his handiwork. He always reminded me that life comes first by starting every meeting with a check in. In my time as a graduate student, his mentorship helped me to grow. Thanks Rick. I hope I can give my future students the kind of mentorship that you have given to me. Thanks to my family who I could always count on. My parents Frank and Becky Wilson who loved me, encouraged me, supported me and created the firm ethical foundation that I carry with me today. To my brothers Tyler and Jason who were always a tough act to follow. To my inherited family Lynn and Reza Nowbar and Peter Gorman and Mary Therese Thompson, thank you for the constant support and love. Thanks to Lily for making 2009 the greatest year of my life. You are my raison d'être. I hope you will read this one day. My greatest thanks I save for Cynthia who took a chance on a goofy looking jock who wore clogs. It has been your unyielding commitment to justice, friendship, and life sustaining love that has carried me through the past decade. For all that you have done for me and continue to do. For understanding when no one else did. For listening. This dissertation is dedicated to you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION I. Introduction 1 II. The Problem 4 III. Statement of Research Question 8 IV. Justification of the Study in Geography 14 V. Research Design 17 A. Phase 1: Fair Trade Activists in the United States (2005-2006) 18 B. Phase 2: Fair Trade Farmers in San Ramon, Nicaragua (2006-2007) 20 VI. Organization of the Chapters 23 CHAPTER 2 - BETWEEN MARKET AND MOVEMENT: CONCEPTUALIZING THE FAIR TRADE COFFEE BUYCOTT I. Introduction 27 A. Organization of the Literature Review 30 II. Historical Background: The Rise of the Fair Trade Coffee Buycott 32 A. The Formation of Fair Labeling Organizations International 36 B. TransFair USA and the Fair Trade Coffee Buycott in the United States 38 III. Fair Trade Certified Coffee and Buycotting as a Social Movement Tactic 45 IV. Between Market and Movement: Competing Conceptions of Fair Trade 50 V. Conclusion 60 CHAPTER 3 - AN ALTERNATIVE TO PROTEST AS USUAL: ACTIVIST ENGAGEMENT WITH FAIR TRADE AS A MARKET AND MOVEMENT I. Introduction 65 A. Organization of the Chapter 68 II. Fair Trade Activists: Studying the United Students for Fair Trade 71 A. Description of USFT 71 B. Description of Research with USFT 76 C. Rationale for Studying USFT 78 III. The Movement Imperative 83 A. Fair Trade Activism? 83 B. Activist Rationales: Motivational Frames and Tactical Resonance 90 1. Motivational Frames 92 2. Tactical Resonance 98 IV. The Fair Trade Coffee Buycott: A Tactical Approach 105 A. Persuasion vs. Coercion 106 B. Persuading Consumers and Retailers 108 C. Guided Action: Step-by-Step on College Campuses 111 V. Why Tactics Matter in the Fair Trade Coffee Buycott 119 VI. Looking Beyond the Buycott 125 VII. Conclusion 131 CHAPTER 4 - IN DEFENSE OF THE LAND: PEASANT COFFEE FARMERS ENGAGE WITH FAIR TRADE AS A MOVEMENT I. Introduction 134 A. How do Peasant Farmers Engage with the Fair Trade Coffee Buycott? 139 II. The Movement Imperative: Lost in Translation? 145 III. Fair Trade at a Different Scale: The Case of San Ramon, Nicaragua 153 A. Stages of Agrarian Reform in Nicaragua 155 1. Stage 1: Revolution and the Formation of State-Run Farms 156 2. Stage 2: The Formation of the Cooperative Movement 158 3. Stage 3: Counter-Agrarian Reform and the Rise of Cooperative Unionism 174 IV. The Legacy of Agrarian Reform and the Emergence of Fair Trade 180 viii A. Contradictions in the Nicaraguan Agrarian Reform and Fair Trade 194 V. Conclusion: Translating Fair Trade Across Scales 197 CHAPTER 5 - FAIR GAME?: PEASANT COFFEE FARMERS ENGAGE WITH FAIR TRADE AS A MARKET I. Introduction 200 II. The Market Imperative 207 A. Market and Movement Imperatives Revisited 207 B. Flipping the Value Proposition: The Quality Game 211 III. Case Study: San Ramon, Nicaragua 216 A. Background 216 B. Land Tenure in the Coffee Sector 218 C. Land Tenure and the cooperative coffee sector in San Ramon 220 D. Fair Trade Cooperative Structure 223 E. Coffee Cultivation and the Labor Process 229 F. Quality Control 236 G. Fair Trade and Organic Standards 241 III. The Fair Trade Contract and Peasant Farming Households in San Ramon 245 A.
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