Banana Cultures

Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Central America, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book Banana Cultures by John Soluri, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John Soluri ISBN: 9780292777873
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: March 6, 2009
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: John Soluri
ISBN: 9780292777873
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: March 6, 2009
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

Bananas, the most frequently consumed fresh fruit in the United States, have been linked to Miss Chiquita and Carmen Miranda, "banana republics," and Banana Republic clothing stores—everything from exotic kitsch, to Third World dictatorships, to middle-class fashion. But how did the rise in banana consumption in the United States affect the banana-growing regions of Central America? In this lively, interdisciplinary study, John Soluri integrates agroecology, anthropology, political economy, and history to trace the symbiotic growth of the export banana industry in Honduras and the consumer mass market in the United States.

Beginning in the 1870s when bananas first appeared in the U.S. marketplace, Soluri examines the tensions between the small-scale growers, who dominated the trade in the early years, and the shippers. He then shows how rising demand led to changes in production that resulted in the formation of major agribusinesses, spawned international migrations, and transformed great swaths of the Honduran environment into monocultures susceptible to plant disease epidemics that in turn changed Central American livelihoods. Soluri also looks at labor practices and workers' lives, changing gender roles on the banana plantations, the effects of pesticides on the Honduran environment and people, and the mass marketing of bananas to consumers in the United States. His multifaceted account of a century of banana production and consumption adds an important chapter to the history of Honduras, as well as to the larger history of globalization and its effects on rural peoples, local economies, and biodiversity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Bananas, the most frequently consumed fresh fruit in the United States, have been linked to Miss Chiquita and Carmen Miranda, "banana republics," and Banana Republic clothing stores—everything from exotic kitsch, to Third World dictatorships, to middle-class fashion. But how did the rise in banana consumption in the United States affect the banana-growing regions of Central America? In this lively, interdisciplinary study, John Soluri integrates agroecology, anthropology, political economy, and history to trace the symbiotic growth of the export banana industry in Honduras and the consumer mass market in the United States.

Beginning in the 1870s when bananas first appeared in the U.S. marketplace, Soluri examines the tensions between the small-scale growers, who dominated the trade in the early years, and the shippers. He then shows how rising demand led to changes in production that resulted in the formation of major agribusinesses, spawned international migrations, and transformed great swaths of the Honduran environment into monocultures susceptible to plant disease epidemics that in turn changed Central American livelihoods. Soluri also looks at labor practices and workers' lives, changing gender roles on the banana plantations, the effects of pesticides on the Honduran environment and people, and the mass marketing of bananas to consumers in the United States. His multifaceted account of a century of banana production and consumption adds an important chapter to the history of Honduras, as well as to the larger history of globalization and its effects on rural peoples, local economies, and biodiversity.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Politics in the Altiplano by John Soluri
Cover of the book What Every Teen Should Know about Texas Law by John Soluri
Cover of the book Maya Figurines by John Soluri
Cover of the book Border Radio by John Soluri
Cover of the book The First Letter from New Spain by John Soluri
Cover of the book Tax Reform and the Alliance for Progress by John Soluri
Cover of the book Zapotec Science by John Soluri
Cover of the book Cultural Economies Past and Present by John Soluri
Cover of the book After Hitchcock by John Soluri
Cover of the book Houston Lost and Unbuilt by John Soluri
Cover of the book Satire in Narrative by John Soluri
Cover of the book Men as Women, Women as Men by John Soluri
Cover of the book Oil in Texas by John Soluri
Cover of the book When Writing Met Art by John Soluri
Cover of the book Forging the Star by John Soluri
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy