Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Fall 2020
Writing Assignment

Commodity Chain Analysis

Due: December 27, 2020 (on LMS)
This assignment is worth of 15 points

Topic:

Commodities are the product of “social relations between individuals at work.” That is, they derive their
value from human labor, which is invested in their very form. Once commodities hit the market,
however, they become objects to be bought, sold, and consumed and are divorced from the labor power
and social relations invested in their production. As a result, commodities become objects that can seem
to have “mysterious” origins. We live in a capitalist society in which identity is constructed through our
acts of consumption, and we surround ourselves with commodities that we make meaningful by
including them in the material and symbolic practices of our daily lives. This is where the lens of the
cultural anthropologist comes in. Although we may know very little about their origins and the social
conditions of their production, our consumption of commodities links us to laborers around the world
who are engaged in production for the Pakistan market.

Your job in this paper is to analyze the chain through which a commodity travels from its point of
production, through distribution, to consumption. Select one basic commodity (e.g. bananas, diamonds,
tea, tobacco) that is grown or mined outside/inside of Karachi and research the social, environmental,
and economic conditions of its production, distribution, and consumption right here in Karachi, Sindh.
You will be paying particular attention to the symbolic and cultural “value” of this commodity—
especially for those who consume it (Is it a sign of status? Is it thought of as a source of comfort? Is it
marketed as a health food or “good” for your body? Is it a symbol of gender or race norms?). The
commodity you choose should be a raw ingredient—a foodstuff or a mined resource—and not a
manufactured item, like a T-shirt or sneaker. A successful paper will answer fully these five questions:

1. Where does the commodity come from and under what environmental conditions is it produced, i.e.,
does it require cutting down forests or polluting rivers or spraying poisonous pesticides on plants?
2. Who invested their labor in the production of the commodity and under what labor conditions?
3. How does the commodity get from its point of origin to its point of sale in Pakistan?
4. What corporate entity controls the production, importation, and distribution of that commodity?
5. How does the commodity figure in the material and symbolic practices of everyday life in Pakistan?

Step 1: Go to a place of consumption and pick a fruit (bananas, mangos, kiwi fruits), vegetable (snow
peas, broccoli, tomatoes), flower (roses, tulips), drink (coffee, wine), or mineral or metal (salt, gold,
diamonds, silver). (A grocery place like METRO or Farmers Market or Ocean Mall
or Lucky One Mall might be more inclined to provide you with this information than a major chain like
Imtiaz Super Market or Carrefour). You may pick a commodity that is not listed here, but please make
sure to “okay” your choice with your TA. Please select a commodity that comes from outside the
Karachi. Then pick one company and place where that produce this commodity. For example, if you
select clothes, you should select one brand name (e.g. Gucci) and one country of origin (e.g. Italy). Or if
you select diamonds, you should select one company (e.g. De Beers) and one country (e.g. South
Africa).
Step 2: Research how the commodity got from its point of origin to the store. A commodity chain
is a connected path that a commodity travels from producer to consumer. To accomplish this, you will
need to interview the store manager or buyer, research this on the web, and you may even have to call
the company. I suggest being up front and clear about your intentions. You can simply state that you
are a student researching the production of the commodity. Ask for basic information about production
and distribution systems and transportation networks. For example, is the coffee produced on a
plantation owned by the same company that imports it to Pakistan? Or, is the coffee grown by small
farmers and sold to a centralized buyer who then sells it to Folgers? How does it get to Pakistan? This
information should only provide the basic frame of reference for your commodity chain and should not
make up a major portion of your paper content.

Step 3: Research the effect on the environment caused by the extraction/harvesting of this
commodity. In other words, find out how the production of the commodity affects the environment
and/or the laborers themselves, where it is grown and why. Or if it is a mineral or metal, how is it
extracted from the earth? What are the environmental impacts of production for the region in question
and what are the environmental impacts for the producers—i.e., is it grown in a very hot climate such
that workers suffer from heat exhaustion or skin cancer, or do workers suffer from exposure to harmful
chemicals or asbestos or coal dust? What kinds of processing does the commodity undergo before it is
exported to Pakistan?

Step 4: Find out who owns the means of production (e.g. land and machinery) and who has
invested their wage labor in the production of that commodity. What kind of demographic (urban,
rural, class, gender) does the labor force represent? What kind of pay do they receive? How is work
organized on the plantation, mine, processing/packaging plant, and/or distribution center? What kinds
of working conditions do the labors experience? Are there any health hazards to the work?

Step 5: Think about how the commodity figures in the material and symbolic practices of our
daily lives as Pakistani consumers. When and why do we buy and use this commodity? What cultural
significance does it have in our lives? For instance, do we incorporate it into daily rituals or is it
reserved for special occasions? Is it a luxury item or inexpensive basic good? Does everyone use this
commodity or just a small sector of the population? If it is the object of a major marketing campaign,
what is it that is being marketed, that a consumer “wants” above and beyond the thing itself? (Status?
Gender identity? Health? Wealth? Success? Longevity) (Think of the slogans “Diamonds are a girl’s
best friend.” “Diamonds are forever.”)

Step 6: Write a 5-page paper (not including the bibliography). Expressed in your own words, that
outlines the commodity chain and most importantly analyzes the social, environmental, economic,
and/or cultural conditions of the commodity’s production, distribution and consumption. This is a
research paper and should include an introduction with a clear thesis statement, body paragraphs, a
conclusion, and a bibliography. A good thesis statement will convey your main argument and hold the
various lines of your analysis together. A successful paper will conduct an analysis of the conditions of
production and consumption, not simply provide a list of facts to fulfill the above requirements.

In doing your research, you should draw on each of these three sources:
 information directly from the store or company,
 scholarly articles and books,
 and the internet.
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Academic research is required. If you pick Chiquita bananas or De Beers diamonds, you may look at
their web sites, while keeping in mind that commercial web sites function as advertisements. Be very
careful when using information from the web. You cannot always take this information at face value.
Thus, it is important to use other academic sources that you find at the IBA library or an academic
journal source such as JSTOR to support your analysis, which should be both analytically critical and
factual. You also must provide a complete bibliography, including the web site addresses and names of
people with whom you talked.

Essay Guidelines:
This paper should be five pages, double spaced, 12-point font, one inch margins on all sides. Include a
title, your name, your TA, and the date at the top of the first page and insert page numbers on each page.
Begin your bibliography on page six or after. It should not be included in the five-page limit. Please
make sure to carefully formulate your analysis, check your grammar and sentence structure, and
proofread your paper for spelling and punctuation errors. As always, plagiarism will not be tolerated.

Proper citation and bibliography (including the web site addresses) is required! Do not include web site
URLs within the text. Use the “(Name of the Author, Year of Publication: Page number)” format for
within-the-main text citation. Use parenthetical citation and bibliographic standards from The Chicago
Manual of Style or the MLS Manual of Style. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html. Or
use the American Ethnologist style for End Notes and/or the Bibliography section. Here are examples to
this style:

Books: LUTZ, Catherine A. and Jane L. Collins. 1993. Reading National Geographic. Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press.

Articles in Books: JESSOP, Bob. 1999. Narrating the Future of the National Economy and the National
State: Remarks on Remapping Regulation and Reinventing Governance. In State/Culture: State
Formation after the Cultural Turn. George Steinmetz, ed. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. pp. 378-406.

Journal Articles: MAKDISI, Saree. 1997. Laying Claim to Beirut: Urban Narrative and Spatial Identity
in the age of Solidere. Critical Inquiry 23(3): 660-705.

NO E-MAILED and/or LATE PAPERS will be accepted.