Sugar, Coffee, Rubber, Bananas: Commodities in World History

Catalog description

This course examines the history of everyday commodities we consume or use, often without considering where they came from (e.g., sugar, coffee, rubber, and bananas). Students focus on the development of plantation-style agriculture in the Americas, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Africa from the 1600s to the 1930s. Power relationships between laborers, landowners, colonial governments, and consumers are examined to connect trade goods to the historical societies in which they were produced. Particular emphasis is placed on links between European imperialism, labor migration, and inequality. Offered Alternate Years.