Abstract
In the northern highlands of the Philippines, Indigenous smallholder farmers grow arabica coffee in living landscapes shaped by altitude, weather patterns, ecological relationships, and ongoing negotiations with climate and land. While the specialty coffee industry continues to grow in Southeast Asia, these farmers remain in vulnerable positions—navigating pressures from global markets, development programs, and shifting expectations of value. This research explores how global quality standards—such as traceability, cupping protocols, and “direct trade” rhetoric—interact with local ways of knowing, growing, and valuing coffee. Drawing from fieldwork with farming communities in the Cordillera region, I combine immersion, interviews, and trade observations with insights from five years of industry experience. Rather than view these global frameworks as neutral or universal, I examine how they are interpreted, negotiated, or resisted through everyday farming practices. I understand translation as a two-way process—where values, knowledge, and power are constantly being reshaped across cultural and ecological boundaries. Climate, in this context, is not just a backdrop but a co-participant in production, influencing decisions and rhythms on the ground. By focusing on how farmers engage with global coffee systems, this study offers a grounded contribution to agrifood studies, Indigenous studies, and science and technology studies (STS). It challenges extractive models of sustainability and invites more relational, place-based understandings of how food systems are lived and transformed.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
TRANSLATION, INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE, ETHNOGRAPHY, AGRARIAN CHANGE, SUSTAINABILITY
