Coffee Culture: Local Experiences, Global Connections

188 Pages·2017·2.278 MB·English

by  Catherine M. Tucker

COFFEE CULTURE
Coffee Culture: Local Experiences, Global Connections explores coffee as (1) a major
commodity that shapes the lives of millions of people; (2) a product with a dra-
matic history; (3) a beverage with multiple meanings and uses (energizer, comfort
food, addiction, fl avoring, and confection); (4) an inspiration for humor and
cultural critique; (5) a crop that can help protect biodiversity yet also threaten
the environment; (6) a health risk and a health food; and (7) a focus of alterna-
tive trade efforts. This book presents coffee as a commodity that ties the world
together, from the coffee producers and pickers who tend the plantations in trop-
ical nations, to the middlemen and processors, to the consumers who drink cof-
fee without ever having to think about how the drink reached their hands.
Catherine M. Tucker is a sociocultural and ecological anthropologist at the
University of Florida.
The Routledge Series for Creative Teaching and Learning in Anthropology
Editors: Richard H. Robbins, SUNY Plattsburgh and
Luis A. Vivanco, University of Vermont
This series is dedicated to innovative, unconventional ways to connect under-
graduate students and their lived concerns about our social world to the power
of social science ideas and evidence. We seek to publish titles that use anthro-
pology to help students understand how they benefi t from exposing their own
lives and activities to the power of anthropological thought and analysis. Our
goal is to help spark social science imaginations and, in doing so, open new
avenues for meaningful thought and action.
Books in this series pose questions and problems that speak to the complexi-
ties and dynamism of modern life, connecting cutting-edge research in exciting
and relevant topical areas with creative pedagogy.
Available
Re-Imagining Milk, 2e
Cultural and Biological Perspectives
Andrea S. Wiley
Lycra
How a Fabric Shaped America
Kaori O’Connor
Fake Stuff
China and the Rise of Counterfeit Goods
Yi-Chieh Jessica Lin
The World of Wal-Mart
Discounting the American Dream
Nicholas Copeland and Christine Labuski
Reconsidering the Bicycle
An Anthropological Perspective on a New (Old) Thing
Luis Vivanco
Alcohol
Social Drinking in Cultural Context
Janet Chrzan
Forthcoming
Seafood
From Ocean to Plate
Richard Wilk, Shingo Hamada and Lillian Brown
Coffee Culture, 2e
Local Experiences, Global Connections
Catherine M. Tucker
It is a pleasure to see a new edition of this engaging and accessible book. It is a
great way to introduce students to the global food system and all its contradic-
tions, to fi nd surprises in their daily cup.
Richard Wilk, Distinguished Professor,
Anthropology, Indiana University

Anthropologist Catherine Tucker has written an engaging, undergraduate-
accessible study of coffee in the tradition of Sidney W. Mintz’ Sweetness and Power,
as a lens for understanding the global in the local. Tucker illuminates our
coffee-related connections across the world with a can’t-put-it-down blend of
wide-ranging historical research, personal insight, and thought-provoking dis-
cussion questions. She helps students of food and culture, as well as coffee afi -
cionados, craft their own understandings of the relationships embedded in our
food and how they can act to help shape them.
Peter Leigh Taylor, Professor and Chair, Department of
Sociology, Colorado State University, Editor-in-Chief,
Society & Natural Resources

Tucker adroitly integrates cross-cultural comparisons, social theory, and the
insights collected during more than two decades of research conducted in places
that range from Colombia’s coffee fi elds to university cafes. In this ambitious
and updated biography of the bean, she shows how we are linked physically,
symbolically, and economically to coffee. A must-read for students, sophisticated
coffee drinkers, and anyone interested in sustainable food systems.
Christopher M. Bacon, Associate Professor, Environmental
Studies, Santa Clara University
C O F F E E C U LT U R E
Local Experiences, Global Connections
Second Edition
Catherine M. Tucker
First edition published 2011
by Routledge
Second edition published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
The right of Catherine M. Tucker to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tucker, Catherine M.
Title: Coffee culture : local experiences, global connections / Catherine M.
Tucker.
Description: 2nd edition. | New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Anthropology of
Stuff series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016032108 | ISBN 9781138933026 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781138933033 (paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315678795 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Coffee—Social aspects. | Coffee—History. | Coffee—Health aspects. |
Coffee industry—Social aspects.
Classifi cation: LCC GT2918 .T83 2018 | DDC 394.1/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032108
ISBN: 978-1-138-93302-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-93303-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-67879-5 (ebk)
Typeset in New Baskerville
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Visit the companion website: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/anthropologyofstuff/
In memory of Janice Rand Tucker

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Series Foreword xii
Preface xiv
Acknowledgments xvi
Acronyms and Abbreviations xviii
PART I
COFFEE CULTURE, SOCIAL LIFE, AND GLOBAL HISTORY 1
1 Culture, Caffeine, and Coffee Shops 3
2 Theories of Food and Social Meanings of Coffee 11
3 Coffee Culture, History, and Media in Coca-Cola Land 18
4 Tracing Coffee Connections 26
5 Coffee and the Rise of the World System 36
6 Coffee, the Industrial Revolution, and Body Discipline 45
PART II
ACCOLADES AND ANTIPATHIES : COFFEE CONTROVERSIES
THROUGH TIME 51
7 Coffee Controversies and Threats to Social Order 53
8 National Identities and Cultural Relevance 59