From Silver to Cocaine

From Silver to Cocaine, edited by Steven Topik, Carlos Marichal, and Zephyr Frank, is an expansive collection of essays regarding various commodity chains in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first century. This synthesis is concerned with a myriad of concepts and themes, including:

• ·        Globalization – Both pre-modern and modern
• ·        Economic forces (supply and demand, labor mobilization, rise of multinational corporations, etc.)
• ·        Production and consumption; international cultivation of certain commodities
• ·        The taste/experience of the commodities themselves
• ·        Industrialization and agro-industry
• ·        Empire and colonialism
• ·        Exploitation and coercion (in regards to labor)
• ·        Latin American independence
• ·        State economic policies
• ·        Political competition and power; mercantile competition and power
• ·        The transient nature of commodities’ accessibility among the social classes
• ·        Environmental factors (in regards to production of certain commodities – Cacao in Brazil comes to mind)

The commodity chain approach taken by the authors in From Silver to Cocaine does an incredible job of paying attention to production and consumption, as well as supply and demand. I would argue that the authors view demand as the principal cause behind changes in patterns of consumption. However, they also attribute power to merchants and middlemen, giving them the ability to initiate or manage change. Through the commodity chain approach, it is clear that all participants in the life of a commodity possess agency, whether they are indigenous workers, merchants, consumers, powerful polities, or multinational corporations. This book, for me, represents the best aspects of what I have come to expect from commodity histories – the social life of the commodity and a social history of its producers, middlemen, and consumers, analyzed alongside political and economic circumstances. Although I believe strongly that a commodity chain approach would be my preferred methodology, I appreciated how some of the authors cautioned against its sole use. Mary Ann Mahony illustrates in her discussion of cacao in Brazil that commodity chains neglect alternative products, disregarding the motives of farmers and planters in selecting a commodity to produce. Bucheli and Read advocate in their chapter on bananas that analysis of politics and culture are necessary supplements to the commodity chain approach. I would agree with that assessment, as I believe in order to get the full picture of a commodity’s history a comprehensive analysis is needed. From Silver to Cocaine is a landmark work that defines for historians a valuable methodology in analyzing the life of commodities. I would absolutely keep this work on my syllabus.