This thesis explores the early modern coffeehouse and its bourgeois clientele in Europe in the form of a case study on Dutch coffeehouses in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. The chosen...Show moreThis thesis explores the early modern coffeehouse and its bourgeois clientele in Europe in the form of a case study on Dutch coffeehouses in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries. The chosen inquiry seeks to elucidate how a new social category – the bourgeoisie – developed over altered drinking habits, materials and the corresponding aesthetical codes within the social institution of the coffeehouse. Rather newly, the coffeehouse as an institution of publicness and consumption in the Enlightenment is researched from the angle of visual and material history. On the whole, this thesis contributes to the cultural historical field of early modern consumption. One result is that the consumer goods coffee and porcelain created a balance between rational forms of conduct and individual attitudes within the public sphere of coffeehouses. A multifarious historical approach by the means of visual and textual sources towards the early modern consumption of both coffee and porcelain considers the correspondent material qualities and suggests that porcelain from China has been remarkably suitable for the coffee ritual which entered Europe from the Middle and Near East. The thereby evolved tastes were groundbreaking for the rise of the bourgeoisie. This is demonstrated by the analysis of the design and arrangement of the vessels required for the individual and collective display of the tastes around coffee-drinking, on the basis of inventories and images. From a postcolonial perspective, the present thesis outlines which associations around the historical concept of luxury accompanied the adoption of Asian coffee and porcelain coffee ware into European consumption habits, while the world of coffee has always been represented as an oriental theme in travelogues, recipe books, medicinal treatises and fashion plates. Furthermore, the thesis describes how these ideas and values associated with coffee-drinking enabled the consolidation of the social construct of a specific regional group of the urban middleclass bourgeoisie, while locating the coffeehouse in the unique historical environment of early modern Amsterdam.Show less
This paper seeks to identify and expand the discussion on the implementation of fair trade and food sovereignty strategies within the context of the Nicaraguan coffee industry. These strategies...Show moreThis paper seeks to identify and expand the discussion on the implementation of fair trade and food sovereignty strategies within the context of the Nicaraguan coffee industry. These strategies have been proposed within the academic debate as complementary, therefore, this paper explores in how far this proposal has been considered in terms of both historically contextual challenges, as well as theoretical challenges presented by each strategy. The theoretical framework of food regimes, and of the corporate food regime as an extension, is utilised in order to present the various actors and ideological backgrounds relevant to this discussion. Additionally, this paper outlines the global and national contexts of coffee production in order to place any findings in its appropriate context. Lastly, the theoretical issues found through the aforementioned discussion is explored within the case study of the ‘Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security Law’ or law 693. This paper proposes that future expansion on this topic consider more closely the following dimensions of the debate: historical legacies of revolution; universalist approaches within the two strategies; the absence of food sovereignty institutionalisation within the academic debate; and the failure to seriously accept the trend of corporatisation of fair trade.Show less
The focus of this thesis is on the influence of the Fair Trade and Fair Chain programs on the condition of Ethiopian coffee farmers, looking at the social, economic and environmental conditions.
As the second most-traded commodity in the world, coffee is an essential part of world trade. In 2002 a crisis hit the global coffee sector and prices hit their lowest point in a century. As the...Show moreAs the second most-traded commodity in the world, coffee is an essential part of world trade. In 2002 a crisis hit the global coffee sector and prices hit their lowest point in a century. As the birthplace of coffee, and home to some of the most unique varieties of coffee, Ethiopia was hit hard by this crisis. Since then many reforms have taken place in Ethiopia's coffee sector in order to improve its standing within the global coffee trade, however in order to understand the success of these reforms and the potential for more to be done, it is essential to truly understand the value chain of Ethiopia's coffee. This thesis is an analysis of Ethiopia's coffee sector, and provides an insight into some of the ways in which Ethiopia may be able to capitalise from the rarity and quality of its coffee varieties.Show less
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
closed access
This dissertation aims at examining the divergent outcomes of cash crop production in Indonesia and the sharply contrasting evaluations in the literature. Land’s End: Capitalist Relations on an...Show moreThis dissertation aims at examining the divergent outcomes of cash crop production in Indonesia and the sharply contrasting evaluations in the literature. Land’s End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier by Tanya Murray Li, and Pursuing Livelihoods, Imagining Development: Smallholders in Highland Lampung, Indonesia by Ahmad Kusworo are exemplary of the discrepancy. By way of comparing the ethnographies, the dissertation attempts to uncover what explains the differing appraisals of commercialization processes in Indonesia.Show less
