Silver to Cocaine

Cochineal on the brain

Topik, Marichal and Frank in their work, Silver to Cocaine, examine the subject of commodities from the total commodity chain, as they call it. My perception of the work is that the authors (editors) have created a factual account of the entire ecosystem of several commoditized goods. Focusing on the relationships between producers, intermediaries (of which there are many), and consumers.

I feel the need to explain what I mean by ecosystem, as we touched on it briefly in class last week. The ecosystem includes all participants and beneficiaries from the production of the good. Starting with the farmer or collector of the raw good, the consortium (exporter) that collects the raw good and prepares it for shipment, the shipper, the consortium (importer) that receives the good at the destination port and then markets and distributes the still raw good, the artisan or craftsman that produces the finished good that may once again fall into the hands of a distributor or wholesaler then the retailer finally sells the product to the consumer.

Like Eric, I still have cochineal on the brain and when comparing Greenfield’s book to Marichal’s essay it appears to me that Greenfield tone suggests that the conquistadores drove the forced laborers to the edge in pursuit of tribute (preferably cochineal, p85) and Marichal mentions that the native growers increased production, after 1824, to make up for the lower price they received (p90). This statement leads me to believe the indigenous people made a conscious decision to increase their labor output to maintain a preferred level of lifestyle. Another interesting point raised Marichal (also noted by Eric) is the fact that the indigenous people of Oaxaca were able to earn a modest living (p85) and then two paragraphs later suggests that the colonial administration and merchants worked to exploit the indigenous communities as much as they could. This leaves me slightly confused, and then perhaps the Oaxaca people may have chosen to be stakeholders in the cochineal ecosystem and were not just forced labor with benefits.

One last comment, I appreciate how the authors/editors identify areas that would benefit from additional research.