Banana Capital
University of Regina Press (Verlag)
978-1-77940-035-2 (ISBN)
For more than a century, banana plantations and farms in Latin America have defined the landscape and economies wherever these fruits are grown—toxic chemicals, exploited workers, and fragile monocultures are their legacy.
At the southern end of Ecuador’s la costa region lies the city of Machala, the self-described “Banana Capital” of the world. There, farmers and workers experience alarming rates of negative health effects associated with widespread pesticide use along with precarious and unsafe working conditions. Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator reveals the grim realities of daily life for banana farmers and, beyond that, seeks to understand and address these challenges.
Ben Brisbois’s search for understanding leads him back to the 19th-century origins of banana production in the Americas and through over a century of imperialism, bloodshed, and ecological devastation. Along the way, he uncovers how worker-led resistances and the ever-unpredictable ecosystem thwart repeated attempts by powerful multinationals and their government allies to extract more and more wealth from banana plantations at the cost of Latin American health and lives.
Banana Capital reveals the power dynamics of life in the banana industry— dynamics vividly experienced by workers caught in a struggle against corporations prioritizing profit over the health of the land and the community.
Ben Brisbois is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health. He lives in Montreal.
Figures
Preface
Introduction
PART 1: 1870 - 1960
El pulpo
Race to the Equator
Bananas, Environments, and Histories
Beyond Its Control
The Very, Very Tropical Equator
The Parakeet in the Plantation
PART 2: 1961 - 2000
An Insult
Cavendish Ecologies
Empire’s Guinea Pigs
El fruto del neoliberalismo
Healthy Resistance
PART 3: 2001 - 2023
A la costa
Twenty-First-Century Socialism and
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
A Question of Culture
The Illness of the Century
El gringuito
Same Joke, Different Clown
Plagas
The Bananthropocene
PART 4: GREEN FUTURES
Stories
Evidence I: Regulating and Litigating Toxics
Evidence II: Epidemiology and “Developing Countries”
Shopping
Noticing
Plotting
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 15.05.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Digestions |
| Zusatzinfo | 4 Halftones, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Regina |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 153 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 660 g |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung | |
| Weitere Fachgebiete ► Land- / Forstwirtschaft / Fischerei | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-77940-035-7 / 1779400357 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-77940-035-2 / 9781779400352 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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