Cocoa / Kristy Leissle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leissle, Kristy, author.

Series:

Resources (Polity Press)

Resources series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cocoa trade.

Chocolate industry.

Physical Description:

xi, 228 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Medford, MA : Polity Press, 2018.

Summary:

Chocolate has long been a favorite indulgence. But behind every chocolate bar we unwrap, there is a world of power struggles and political maneuvering over its most important ingredient: cocoa. In this incisive book, Kristy Leissle reveals how cocoa, which brings pleasure and wealth to relatively few, depends upon an extensive global trade system that exploits the labor of five million growers, as well as countless other workers and vulnerable groups. The reality of this dramatic inequity, she explains, is often masked by the social, cultural, emotional, and economic values humans have placed upon cocoa from its earliest cultivation in Mesoamerica to the present day. Tracing the cocoa value chain from farms in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, through to chocolate factories in Europe and North America, Leissle shows how cocoa has been used as a political tool to wield power over others. Cocoa's politicization is not, however, limitless: it happens within botanical parameters set by the crop itself, and the material reality of its transport, storage, and manufacture into chocolate. As calls for justice in the industry have grown louder, Leissle reveals the possibilities for and constraints upon realizing a truly sustainable and fulfilling livelihood for cocoa growers, and for keeping the world full of chocolate. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 World Cocoa Map 26

3 Stages of Sweet 47

4 Power in the Market 72

5 Economics on the Ground 102

6 Trade Justice 128

7 Governing Quality 159

8 Sustainable Futures 177.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Leissle, Kristy. Cocoa.

ISBN:

9781509513161

1509513167

9781509513178

1509513175

OCLC:

988580565