Some conferences related to food and globalization
A Conference on the Moral, Economic, and Social Life of Coffee Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (fall 2008) organized by Robert Thurston, Professor of History, Miami U. thurstrw@muohio.edu Dates: Friday, October 31-Saturday, November 1, 2008. Participants are asked to reach Oxford, using the Cincinnati (CVG) or Dayton (DAY) international airport, one day before the conference begins. Purpose: To bring together people from business and academia, drawing from various sectors and levels of the coffee business and from scholars who study the industry, the drink, and its impact on societies around the world. To discuss the problems facing coffee farmers, sustainable production, the environment, and the future of coffee. To increase public awareness of issues of politics, ecology, and social justice connected with the industry. To develop materials for a book that will draw together stories and opinions from many areas and levels of coffee production, processing, and marketing. To develop a portal web site for coffee studies. Audience: General and academic. Miami University, a beautiful campus, is located an hour from both Cincinnati and Dayton, two hours from Columbus; Lexington, Kentucky; and Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana. Oxford, Ohio is an hour from both the Cincinnati and Dayton airports. Announcements of the conference will be placed on listservs and in academic and trade journals. Anticipated attendance is 150-200. Background: Coffee is the second most valuable commodity traded legally around the world. It has played a crucial role in globalization since the 17th century, and it is central to the study of globalization's continuing effects. Grown in more than 50 countries by 20-25 million families, then processed, traded, and sold by millions of other people, coffee is an immensely important item in the world economy. Beginning with English coffee houses in the 1650s, the drink's impact on western social, cultural, and political life has been huge. It has played a major role in social upheaval in Latin America but also in achieving stability in Costa Rica. Coffee has been a basic factor in bringing profound social and racial change to various regions of the world, while it has provided an important source of foreign exchange to many producing countries. Keynote Speaker: Sidney Mintz, one of the world's foremost anthropologists, author of Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History. Professor Mintz will speak on issues of how and why consumers "choose" various commodities among all those available to them. His talk will bring insights from anthropology and history together and will provide a framework for the conference. The Conference: Speakers will consider coffee's past and continuing impact on issues of labor supply and conditions, market fluctuations, new technology, the environment (including eco-tourism), political change, and social justice. Bringing people involved in the business, from farms to roasters to multi-national firms, together with scholars concerned with many aspects of coffee's impact in past and present should produce a forum for lively and productive interchange. Anticipated Results: A book drawn from conference proceedings should have wide appeal for classroom use and general readers. The organizer has experience in producing such a volume. The book will present stories and opinions about what is involved at each level of the coffee business and present case studies of coffee's social, political, and environmental impact. Since the point of the conference is to allow participants to communicate with each other and the general public about coffee, articles will be jargon-free and clear. We also plan to create a permanent web site as a portal to other sites, articles, and bibliographies on coffee. A nominal charge will be made for attendance, which will cover costs of the program, lunch on Friday and Saturday, coffee and snacks. Other participants include: Kennedy T. K. Gitonga, Research Officer - Economist, Ruiru, Kenya Stuart McCook, Guelph University, on coffee rust disease Charlie Kwit, Wittenberg U. Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia Coffee, on sustainability Ernest Carman, Café Cristina, Costa Rica, on running a sustainable farm Ilhem Baghdadli, World Bank Procter &Gamble rep to be named Kim Moore, Dir. of Business Development–Coffee and Hot Beverages, TransFair USA Manoel Correa do Lago, Rio de Janeiro, coffee exporter Kenneth Davids The Coffee Review Robert Thurston, Miami U. Bruce Robbins, Columbia U. Steven Topik, UC Irvine Jonathan Morris, U. of Hertfordshire William Clarence-Smith, School of Oriental and African Studies, U. of London
Commodities in evolution: historical change in different ages of globalisation, 1800-2000
The 2nd Annual Workshop of the Commodities of Empire project Council Room, the British Academy, London 11 - 12 September 2008 First Call for Papers Please submit an abstract of 300 words by 14 March 2008 to: Dr Jonathan Curry-Machado, Coordinator, Commodities of Empire project: j.currymachado@londonmet.ac.uk The workshop will explore the long-term evolution of commodities in the modern era, particularly from the perspectives of regions subjected to colonial rule in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. While commodity chains were a major factor in promoting interrelations between different parts of the world, this focus on the world outside Europe and North America is designed to question dominant periodisations of 'globalisation'. Even when not identified purely with near contemporary processes, many accounts still tend to privilege late nineteenth century economic convergence between the nation states of the North Atlantic as the most significant benchmark of a 'globalising' world. That modes and areas of production as well as patterns and places of consumption of commodities such as tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar and cochineal underwent radical transformation during this period is not in doubt. However, few accounts have focused on these changes over the longue duree, which would open up exciting possibilities of identifying, comparing and assessing the various mechanisms, both local and international, that historically produced the major shifts. This may also offer the promise of a more refined periodisation of 'globalisation', even though we need perhaps to bear in mind that commodities, like other interconnecting forces, were always uneven and limited in their 'globalising' capacities and that they generated resistance, conflicts and inequalities as well as convergence. The workshop will critically explore the following propositions: . How significant were changes in political regimes (e.g. from colonial to postcolonial) in the evolution of commodity chains between 1800 and 2000? . How far did the movement of commodities help bring about changes in the technological and infrastructural environment? . What was the ecological and social impact (e.g. in terms of the distribution of wealth) of export crops over the long term? . What factors promoted changes in the perception of, and demand for, particular commodities? . What promoted and how significant were changes in labour regimes? . Can local experiences and changing histories of commodities help us towards a more refined periodisation of 'globalisation'? A British Academy Research Project, Commodities of Empire is a collaboration between the Caribbean Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University and the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at the Open University. Further details can be found on the project website, at www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre/commodities-of-empire. Companies Act 2006 : http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/companyinfo
ELEVENTH SYMPOSIUM
of the
International Commission for Research into European Food History
(ICREFH)
Food and War in
Call for papers
ICREFH has held biennial symposia since 1989 on various topics of European food history, each of which has resulted in the publication of a book of the papers given. To date, nine volumes are in print and a tenth is in preparation. These symposia are notable for the use of pre-circulated papers so that sessions consist of workshop-type discussions. ICREFH’s Eleventh Symposium will be held in
The aim of the Symposium is to shed some light on the question of how wars and food are related to each other and how they are intertwined. How did the special circumstances of war lead to the development of new eating and drinking customs and patterns? How did it help to promote new foods or to replace others? How did war help new consumption patterns to develop? Did war provoke the development of gendered eating styles, did it stabilize male and female consumption patterns or did it destabilize them? What long-term effects of wartime foods on public health can be observed in
Further information about the Symposium can be found in the forthcoming ICREFH Newsletter for Spring 2008. To request a copy if you are not normally on the ICREFH mailing list, please email p.j.atkins@durham.ac.uk
Papers may be offered in one of the four following sub-themes. To stimulate discussion at the Symposium, contributors should address one or more of the following research questions in their papers. Papers should not only describe the development of particular topics, but should also assess the short and long term consequences which affect nutritional habits of today.
(1) Food allocation, food shortages and rationing in time of war:
How was food allocated for the civilian population during twentieth-century European wars?
How did government strategies differ in
Were the armed forces given priorities in food allocation? What food was considered necessary for the fighting man?
What rations were allocated to the armed services and civilians? What role did nutritional sciences play in these decisions?
(2) Alternative strategies for consumers:
Did food control and food shortages alter consumer behaviour during European wars in the twentieth century?
Did governments provide recipes and nutritional information for civilians?
Did the black market have a significant effect on food supply during wartime?
(3) The social and health implications of wartime food consumption:
Did war change patterns of eating and eating behaviour in either the short or long term?
Were governments stimulated to develop food and nutrition policies by war? Did these policies persist in the post war era in the long term?
Were food-related diseases present in wartime
(4) Innovations in food supply and technology during war time:
Did war accelerate innovations in food processing and preservation?
What “inventions” were made and how and where were they implemented?
Did technological change persist to influence postwar food consumption?
Anyone wishing to propose a paper for ICREFH XI should complete the attached Application Form. It is essential that an abstract of up to 200 words is supplied. Papers will be selected for the Symposium by ICREFH’s Technical Committee and proposers who are successful will be informed by 31 May 2008 and sent further information.
