We are coffee farmers: Exploring coffee farmers’ identities in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala

Abstract

This thesis, based on eight weeks of anthropological research in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, explores in what way being member of a coffee cooperation impacts upon the identities of local small scale coffee farmers. To answer this question it first looks at the coffee production process of the farmers, on their fields as well as in the cooperation. It then focuses on the history and working of the cooperation to provide a background for later exploring the reasons for members to join the cooperation and their opinions on working in a group. The last part focuses on organic production because this seems to be one of the main characteristics of their group with which they set themselves apart from other coffee farmers in the area. The conclusion states that their strong identification with organic production could be seen as a mixture of outside influences, formed by the demands and wishes of tourists and international buyers, and an urge to go back to more natural modes of production which their ancestors practiced. The latter could be seen as a way for the farmers to incorporate these outside influences into their own lives in a, for them, meaningful way.