Sociology PhD candidate Lalaki Awudu defends her dissertation

Mon, March 31, 2025 9:00 AM at Berkey Hall 457

Hikmatu Lalaki Awudu (She/Her/Hers), Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University will defend her dissertation.

  

“A Caretaker’s Farm Does not Die: Institutional, Social, and Ecological Structures of Cocoa Production in Ghana.”
MSU Sociology PhD Candidate Lalaki Awudu

Committee: Stephen Gasteyer (Chair), Steve Gold, Stephanie Nawyn and Leo Zulu.

Abstract: “Chocolate is a widely enjoyed luxury that people indulge in for personal pleasure. Although it is consumed in large quantities worldwide, few people think about its origins or the conditions under which cocoa trees are cultivated for cocoa beans. African smallholder farmers, who utilize sharecropping and caretaking systems to employ migrant workers, cultivate 90% of the world’s cocoa. For instance, in 2021, two countries in West Africa, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, produced more than 60% of the global cocoa bean supply. With a decline in cocoa production attributed to climate change and other factors, many have raised concerns regarding the necessity of changes to farming practices. Using my FPEAR framework (integrating concepts of abjection and everyday resistance with feminist political ecology theory), I examine how the quest to increase cocoa production influences relations among migrant laborers, host communities, and institutions in Ghana. This research, using in-depth interviews, participant observations, and document analysis, shows that changes in agricultural production and climate change affect not only migrant-host-institutional relations in cocoa production but also the implementation of alternative practices. The analysis reveals that global cocoa market is characterized by a concentration of power in the hands of large-scale private sector actors from the global North, contrasting sharply with the comparatively weak position of smallholder cocoa farm owners and caretakers in the global South. For sustainable farming changes, cocoa stakeholders must prioritize strategies that meet the needs of local cocoa producers, especially caretakers.”

Zoom option: https://msu.zoom.us/j/99009623970
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