Article
English, Spanish
ID: <
oai:doaj.org/article:4e50f4c5e5fd4c239adeea3b674e7abd>
·
DOI: <
10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2009.7.185>
Abstract
A reading of the problem of fair trade is proposed, as it is a set of translation activities carried out by organisations that are intermediary between different social realities. In the first part, we present the actors involved in this issue and report on the ‘classical’ approaches to Fair Trade. We chose to follow Callon and Latour (1997) to say that Fair Trade actors tend to be at the same time in the records of ‘don’ and ‘exchange’. In order to understand the profound differences and similarities between these two registers and their coexistence dynamics, in the second part we present a case study of a non-governmental organisation in Ecuador, which illustrates the efforts and difficulties of fair trade in the context of globalisation. ABSTRACT This essay proposes a reading-out of the problem of fair trade in the sense that it constitutes a whole of actions of translation carried out by organisations located as intermediaries between distinctive social Realities. In the first part, we present the actors of this situation and we remember the “classic” approaches of fair trade. We opt to follow the provisions of Callon and Latour (1997) to say that the actors of fair trade tend to situate themselves simultaneously in the regions of “gift” and of “exchange.” To establish the profound differences and similarities between these two registers as well as their dynamic of coexistence, in the second part we present a case study of a nongovernmental organisation in Ecuador that illustrates the events and differences embedded in fair trade in the context of globalisation.