Gender Analysis in Economics/Gender Analysen in der Ökonomik - Detailseite

The Perfect Cup of Coffee? The Economy, Ecology and Culture of Coffee
Wednesday 2-4pm

The seminar will look at the agrifood system through the lens of coffee from a feminist and social science perspective and deals with different dimensions of coffee production and consumption – the economic, ecological and socio-cultural.
Coffee production is mostly concentrated in the Global South and coffee has become one of the largest agricultural commodities. The production of coffee is highly embedded in colonial power relations: during the colonial period local food crops have for example been replaced in favor of the cash crop of coffee. However, coffee cultivation is also highly contested so that female farmers in Kenya, for example, resisted structural adjustment in the 1990s and refused to produce coffee by uprooting the coffee trees. Furthermore, many of the coffee-producing areas are affected by the climate crisis and the livelihoods of farmers are already impacted. 
At the same time, coffee consumption holds an important socio-cultural significance and plays a central role in consumers' food and drink habits, especially in Europe. Moreover, coffee shops and cafes often signal change in a region or city and are seen as drivers of gentrification processes. The consumption of specialty coffee and the use of certain equipment, roasting and brewing techniques can be linked to practices of class and social distinction. The subject of coffee will provide an example to analyze gender relations in their intersection with other categories of social inequalities. We will, for example, discuss: How is the female coffee farmer constructed in coffee marketing? What is the potential of women cooperatives, can they decrease gender inequalities? How is gender produced and reproduced through coffee consumption in private and public spheres?

Feminist Political Ecology and Ecofeminism: Theoretical debates and political strategies
Wednesday 4-6pm

This course introduces students to feminist environmentalism. We will analyse discourses and practices from diverse regional backgrounds concerning the role of gender in environmental politics. Ecofeminism is often confronted with the charge of essentialism – is this reading correct? What does Feminist Political Ecology contribute to the understanding of the current ecological crisis? Students will learn about critical perspectives on human-nature-relationships.

Registration formalities:

Personal appearance at the first session on April, 24th

Moodle course (link and possibly key):

Will be provided in the first session

The Perfect Cup of Coffee? The Economy, Ecology and Culture of Coffee

Brownhill, Leigh S.; Kaara, Wahu M., & Turner, Terisa E. (1997): Gender relations and sustainable agriculture: rural women's resistance to structural adjustment in Kenya. Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme.

Kinyanjui, Mary Njeri (2015): Coffee Time. Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon.

Limburg, Aubrey (2013): Large Americano, Extra Masculine: How People Do Gender at The Coffee House. Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography, 3. Jg., Nr. 2, S. 1-11.

Stolcke, Verena; Chapman, Mark D. (1988): Coffee Planters Workers and Wives: Class Conflict and Gender Relations on Sao Paulo Coffee Plantations. Springer.

Feminist Political Ecology and Ecofeminism: Theoretical debates and political strategies Wednesday 4-6pm

Alaimo, Stacy (2016): Exposed. Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times. Minneapolis, London: University of Minnesota Press.

Bauhardt, Christine / Harcourt, Wendy (eds.)(2019): Feminist Political Ecology and the Economics of Care. In Search of Economic Alternatives. (Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics). London: Routledge.

Mellor, Mary (1997): Feminism and Ecology. New York: New York University Press.

Mortimer-Sandilands, Catriona / Erickson, Bruce (eds.)(2010): Queer Ecologies. Sex, Nature, Politics, Desire. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Sturgeon, Noel (1997): Ecofeminist Natures. Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action. New York, London: Routledge.