Bananas grow in tropical climates such as Southeast Asia, and Central America. They grow on tall stalks that can reach up to 25ft in height and in bulks surrounding the heart of the banana tree. The trip a banana takes starting from the tree it grows on, all the way to the consumer can withhold harsh conditions.
Specifically looking at the labor conditions these workers go through to get that banana to the consumer ripe and tasty. The banana industry is almost entirely controlled by three large fruit companies: Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte. These companies rely on smaller farms to produce their crops. The demand for a large amount of this fruit at a low cost, blemish free is very high. Companies like these have gone to extremes to make this kind of production happen.
First, Did you know?:
Crates of these bananas were set up at the Aldi Huxley Exhibition at Design MAI in Berlin. This art exhibit called “The Dark Side of Bananas” was meant to show off the harshness that this fruit provides. The true colors of this industry are invisible to the public, so it is important to inform those about this situation. Even though most of the people who see this exhibit cannot make a change by themselves, it is a step in the right direction. The more the public is aware of the situation, the easier it is for the media to take hold of the story, and eventually attack the situation at the root; which is the larger companies. And what better way to start this domino effect than showing a statement visually. I personally think that statements like these are interpreted to its fullest in ways like this.
This short video shows the process of the harvest, inspection and the pesticides used before shipment. Sorry there is no audio…
This video reveals the intensity of this job. The bananas are very heavy. Even while working with the harsh chemicals, no gloves or masks are provided. The common pesticide used for these bananas has been known to cause great heath issues such as sterility for men.
I believe that if the public did know more about situations like these, there would be changes. As I said before even if the message only gets to one person at a time, it is still an impact. If people become aware of these situations little, by little it will eventually come to a positive conclusion. I do not think that the consumers are using deniability, but the fact that they just are not aware. I also believe that even if people are aware, or when they become aware they will most-likely still buy the product. Though, they will do so more conservatively, and will always remember what they learned about in every purchase.
How does convenience and cheapness impact the conditions of the workers? How does globalization impact development? How does all of this connect to Patel and global food system? How might we compare this to experiences of tomato workers?
ReplyDeleteI think that the art exhibit that you mentioned is really interesting, I think that art is a great way to bring awareness to issues like that. For one the image of a banana almost completely black catches our attention and draws us into wanting to know why the banana was purposely displayed like so. When we can capture people’s interest and get them to want to know about something, that is the best way to teach them or inform them about something. In class we watched that clip on YouTube where a few students tried to raise awareness of where the food in their dining centers was coming from. The way they went about doing so was, as we saw, not very successful. For one people walking by who had not been there for the beginning of their skit, had no idea what they were doing, and most students walking to class are not going to want to stop and try and figure it out if they are going to be late. So to set up an art display where passersby can stop and look and figure it out for themselves is a much more successful technique. Images and pictures are worth 1000 words. Additionally allowing people to think about this in their own way and for themselves may only further bring up additional issues on the same subject.
ReplyDelete-Heather Crosby