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- Convenors:
-
Lisa Ann Richey
(Copenhagen Business School)
Stefano Ponte (Copenhagen Business School)
Send message to Convenors
- Stream:
- Economy and Development
- Location:
- 50 George Square, G.04
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel examines various aspects of humanitarianism, development and investment partnerships where good causes, products, and consumers are tied together in what are presented as unproblematic ways to 'save' Africa.
Long Abstract:
This panel session explores contemporary trends in the commodification of Africa. We welcome papers that examine various aspects of humanitarianism, development or collaborative investments whereby good causes, products, and consumers are tied together in what are presented as unproblematic ways to 'save' Africa. Papers could consider the commodification of doing good ranging from cause-related marketing and 'Brand Aid' to the more institutionalized push in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for long-term strategic partnerships between private corporations and NGOs. Papers may explore non-profit, NGO, as well as business incentives and rationales for partnering as well as the different modes of engagement for instance through non-profit innovation, 'humanitarian goods', sustainable consumption and celebrity activism. The panel will debate the positive and negative effects of commodification processes at local and global levels in relation to accountability, power imbalances, and the environment.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Lisa Ann Richey (Copenhagen Business School) Stefano Ponte (Copenhagen Business School)
Paper short abstract:
Many initiatives address 'African problems' through 'shopping for good,' effectively commodifying them for easy consumption. We examine how Starbucks' 'corporate developmentalism' seeks to revitalize coffee in Eastern Congo. We reflect on their consequences for beneficiaries and corporations.
Paper long abstract:
In spring 2016, Starbucks launched its first single-origin specialty coffee from South Kivu. The most expensive coffee in Starbucks' line is produced with support from the 'Kahawa Bora' project linking US Agency for International Development, Howard G. Buffett foundation, Catholic Relief Services and the Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI)—a celebrity-led development organization founded by Ben Affleck. On the basis of fieldwork in DRC, a desk study and interviews with stakeholders of the project, we critically examine the initiative as a new phase of 'Brand Aid,' when celebrity-promoted products linked to causes (often targeted to Africa) are sold to consumers who want to 'do good.' Kahawa Bora has attracted significant media attention, while other larger and technically-similar projects in Eastern Congo have gone relatively unnoticed. ECI as a partner shares the benefits of celebrity humanitarianism, an effective tool in drawing public attention to an issue. It is one of the many initiatives that claim to address social or environmental issues through 'shopping for good,' effectively commodifying 'African problems' for easy consumption. It is also one of the multitude of value chain interventions involving business, donors and NGOs. Yet, below the smooth surface of fixing crises with 'innovative' solutions lay a labyrinth of interests, political economies of affect, corporate strategies and the commodification of Africa for Western consumption. Ultimately, this article seeks to explain 'corporate developmentalism' through a deeper investigation into global value chains and celebrity humanitarianism, what consequences they have for putative beneficiaries, and what benefits they bring to corporations.
Nora Bardelli (CERI Sciences Po)
Paper short abstract:
This paper argues we can mobilise the concept of commodification with the aim of understanding how specific constructions of 'the refugee' (vulnerable, political, resilient/neoliberal, etc.) are more valued than others and deemed worthier of aid in today's humanitarian space in Burkina Faso.
Paper long abstract:
Within the literature interested in humanitarianism and the refugee regime in the African context, the terms 'commodity' and 'commodification' have been used to look at a variety of practices from different actors. For instance, Waldron (1987) looked at food and material assistance being sold or exchanged by refugees, and Callamard (1994) at refugee ID cards traded to increase access to aid and social services. Daley (2013) analysed the role of celebrities as a form of commodification of humanitarianism, and Scott-Smith (2013) relied on the notion of commodify fetishism to study the uses and meanings of humanitarian objects. Somewhat differently, my paper argues that we can also mobilise the concept of commodification with a different aim: that of understanding how specific constructions of 'the refugee' (vulnerable, resilient/neoliberal, political, etc.) are more valued than others and deemed worthier of aid in today's humanitarian space in Burkina Faso. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out with Malian refugees living in Burkina Faso, I show how such analytical lenses allowed me to understand the process of 'objectification' that refugeeness went through, and that eventually ended up producing a specific 'legitimate refugee'. Simultaneously, the social and political relations of production behind it (which actors, interactions, discourses, or power unbalances played into those constructions) were concealed. In other words, I suggest that commodification processes made 'the neoliberal refugee' and 'the vulnerable refugee' into the ideal figures of refugeeness in Burkina Faso, and that today those figures are the ones deemed worthy of assistance by the refugee regime.
David Nyaluke (University College Dublin)
Paper short abstract:
This paper engages with the question: What are the key challenges facing NGOs facilitating Africa transition from development aid dependence to commodification?
Paper long abstract:
Established in 2008 and based in Dublin, Ireland, Proudly Made in Africa(PMIA) is a not-for-profit organization that facilitates and promotes ethical trading of African goods in Fashion, Textiles and Food acting as a trade facilitator between producers of African shelf-ready products and international retailers thus focusing on value added goods. This paper seeks to explore the history successes, failures and challenges that PMIA faces as organization at the interface between development and trade. The paper is largely exploratory aiming to answer some of the pertinent questions of NGOs engaging in contemporary commodification of Africa.
Richard Schroeder (Rutgers University)
Paper short abstract:
"Green hunts" involve non-lethal capture of big game using tranquilizer darts for veterinary, wildlife management, or research purposes. Marketed as unique, ennobling forms of wildlife encounter, they are implicated in South African land enclosures and thus mark a problematic capitalist frontier.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation explores a series of fundamental structural changes within the global trophy hunting industry. Specifically, it analyzes an attempt to situate hunting as a new frontier in the realm of green capitalism. A distinctive hunting market niche in South Africa known as "green hunting" illustrates the case. "Green hunts" (or "darting safaris") involve the non-lethal capture of big game, typically through the use of tranquilizer darts, for veterinary, wildlife management, or research purposes. Trophies acquired through green hunts are recorded and memorialized either photographically, or through use of plaster and fiberglass castings of horns, tusks, and other features. Since these hunts are conducted using non-lethal means, they potentially appeal to new classes of consumers seeking unique encounters with wildlife. At the same time, however, they are often marketed alongside traditional safaris by hunting operators. This begs the question of how to interpret this latest innovation in an increasingly diverse global hunting market.