Fruits of colonialism: The production of mangoes as commodities in northern Haiti

After the 2010 earthquake, many stakeholders in Haiti and across the globe worked together to increase Haitian mango harvest for export, ostensibly as a way to improve people’s lives. To date, however, no study has examined how such an increase may be affecting the producers beyond statistical measu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCritique of anthropology Vol. 38; no. 4; pp. 461 - 482
Main Author Jayaram, Kiran C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.12.2018
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Archival research
Colonialism
Commodities
Differentiation
Interest groups
Labor process
Men
Peasants
Haiti
commodity production
Mango
historical political economy
rural Haiti
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Summary:After the 2010 earthquake, many stakeholders in Haiti and across the globe worked together to increase Haitian mango harvest for export, ostensibly as a way to improve people’s lives. To date, however, no study has examined how such an increase may be affecting the producers beyond statistical measures. Using archival research and fieldwork in the Artibonite Department in Haiti, this article examines the social consequences of the labour process of Haitian peasants as they pick and process mangoes for export. After describing the biogeography of the mango, I describe the different systems of labour used in mango harvesting. I argue that the growth and harvesting of Haitian mangoes for export reflects social differentiation between those who can organize labour according to monetized relations and those who incorporate the domestic unit into commodity production. Furthermore, as more production shifts to work based upon monetized relations, the balance of economic power shifts towards adult men.
ISSN:0308-275X
1460-3721
DOI:10.1177/0308275X18806575