Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-g4pgd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-04-20T17:40:53.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Plantains and Bananas

from Part I - Commodities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2023

Fernando Degiovanni
Affiliation:
City University of New York
Javier Uriarte
Affiliation:
Stony Brook University, State University of New York
Get access

Summary

This chapter will examine the representation of labor in Latin American texts relating to the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of two hybrid species of the Musa paradisiaca, the sweet banana and the starchier plantain in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In a span of seventy years, bananas would go from being represented as fruit of independence to fruit of horror, attesting to the violence embedded in the transition from local farming to the industrial plantation. Unlike the sweet banana – which would be at the center of these transitions – the starchier plantain would remain offstage in this global industry. The differences in the representation of bananas and plantains respond to changes in their production and show us how representation of a fruit depends on how capital makes it work (or not) for its own profit.

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×