Chelsea Berdahl, Pacific Lutheran University
“The Crisis of Cotton: Subjugation Through Subsidies and Domination by Distortion of West African Cotton Cultures”
Bio: Chelsea Berdahl is a 2008 graduate of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington where she earned degrees in both biochemistry and French. During her time at PLU, Chelsea was involved in undergraduate research, tutoring, cross country and also had the opportunity to study abroad in Martinique and Mali. Her time in Mali solidified her desire to pursue a career in medicine with the goal of practicing rural medicine internationally. Her experiences in Mali also inspired her current research on the effects of agricultural subsidies on rural West African economies.
Abstract: Cotton agriculture is the basis of West African economies, emphasized by the phrase “living from cotton,” that describes the 15 million inhabitants of West Africa that subsist via their raw cotton production. West African cotton production is among the most efficient in the world with superior hand-picked quality giving it the potential to be extremely competitive in the global market. Yet these individual cotton producers live in poverty while cotton producers in more developed countries continue to enjoy substantial profits. This paper attempts to employ postcolonial theory to identify aspects of residual colonial oppression present in current economic policies regarding African cotton production. The principal text used in analysis is Le Livre Blanc sur le Coton: Négociations Commerciales Internationales et Réduction de la Pauvreté3, a 2005 diverse compilation of West African treatises on the global cotton crisis. Analysis helps to illustrate the nature and impact of inherited power relations and their continued effects on global poverty and human development.
