Human Essay: Coffeeland

 Product Production and Labor Exploitation

In daily life, modern contributors to society consistently reap the benefits of exploitation, whether it is known to them or not. The foundations of many companies and industries contain rich and complicated histories of exploitative bosses and enslaved or confined workers. Many enterprises today thrive under similar circumstances, from food production to sectors such as fast fashion. One of the most common items of daily use in modern society is coffee, a fast-growing essential in global society over the past decade. Augustine Sedgewick’s Coffeeland explores the growth of coffee as a worldwide value and the complicated history behind its success. The book follows the story of James Hill, an English businessman who was given the title of the “coffee king” of El Salvador after his widespread success establishing successful coffee plantations, and the historical events that followed and surrounded coffee’s intricate history. To be human in this book is to have control, whether that be for the benefit of yourself or others. 

James Hill, while not an admirable role model by any means, was undisputed as an immensely successful businessman. The majority of this success, however, came from his intense control and exploitation of over five thousand workers on his land. Sedgewick chronicles Hill’s life, elaborating on the struggles he underwent establishing his plantations, but also defines him by his control and cruelty. Hill often mistreated his workers, creating a strict reliance on their employers for both food and pay. These areas of control reduced workers to a bare level, nearly defining them as machines which require food and money to produce valuable output. Hill understood how unhealthy this reliance was for the workers, and how profitable it would be for him. Dehumanization in the narratives of both Hill and his workers is seen when control is exercised unfairly, resulting in the reduction of human workers to a product-producing system. This effect is, without a doubt, still examined in modern markets, though there are attempts to disguise abuse by promoting the success or well-being of a company. In the case of Hill’s plantations, his control was lost by history due to a consistent modern trend of the lack of documentation by victims of systematic abuse.

Those able to break free from the confines of this reliance-based dehumanization become human once more, no longer part of a machine. In this way, those within Coffeeland relate to modern workers and modern guidelines of respect and social standing in a workplace. Figures like Hill are identified in their humanity by their reputation and control, while workers are depicted as part of a greater whole, removing their individual control in the process. While this identification could certainly be simple, defining workers as human when they are able to command others as Hill did, this type of thinking will perpetuate the system hosting a growing majority of overlooked working-class civilians. In this book specifically, the characters we see as human have personal agendas, motives, and the control needed in order to both express those emotions and have them remembered. In the act of reading this book, readers are made aware that systems that seek to dehumanize workers will be examined and criticized, warring against Hill’s plans of mindless control.

In our modern world of ever-growing markets, we as consumers need to be aware of the origins of the products we purchase and support. Reading narratives like those presented in Coffeeland aids in our understanding of the world we contribute to, and I believe that it is the responsibility of anyone who contributes to a market to examine the causes which they are supporting. If money or support is given without thought, consumers run the risk of directly supporting a cause that endangers human lives or safety. It is inevitable to completely avoid markets that dehumanize, as almost every product we consume can be traced back to some event of exploitation. However, there are ways for consumers to grant themselves more awareness of the systems they support, whether that be through research or personal investigation. Coffeeland is by no means a unique story, as the events within it are eerily similar to labor exploitation in both past and present industries. 

One recently publicized example of exploitation is the fast fashion industry, specifically brands such as Shein, Aliexpress, or Wish. Shein in particular is a popular clothing brand known for both its large selection of styles and cheap prices, two details that prompted further investigation by consumers. It has been revealed in recent months that Shein not only is exploiting a large field of workers, but that the brand also consistently steals designs from small businesses and even other online clothing brands. A consumer with no knowledge of these details sees a convenient, inexpensive way to “fit in” with current fashion trends, but someone who knows of the company’s inner workings is given a choice whether or not to support them, which is the purchaser’s humanity coming into play.

While I personally have never had an interest in fast fashion, I have attempted to be more conscientious about where I spend my money, which is a choice I am privileged to have. For example, staying away from corporations like Chik-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby due to their exploitative pasts and practices has been a small exercise of understanding for me personally, and while I know it isn’t much, there is only so much we as individuals can do to prevent these markets from practices they have been engaging in for decades. Times like this may seem hopeless, as we read stories of exploitation infecting many of the products we use daily, but books like Coffeeland bring awareness to the past in order to attempt prevention in the future. It is the responsibility of those outside of these controlling systems to educate themselves and attempt to restore the humanity of those trapped within.