By Sarah Geegan
UK anthropology Professor Sarah Lyon's recent work was described by the Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA) as the best book in economic anthropology in three years. Her subject: coffee.
While many people believe that drinking fair-trade coffee, purchased directly from the growers, promotes healthier working conditions, environmentally friendly agricultural standards and fair prices, Lyon's work, "Coffee and Community: Maya Farmers and Fair-Trade Markets," analyzes the real implications of fair-trade networks.
Centering on the lives of Maya coffee farmers in Guatemala, the book examines the question: what is the reality for producers, intermediaries