Shea Butter Republic
Author | : Brenda Chalfin |
Publisher | : Routledge |
Total Pages | : 320 |
Release | : 2004-06-01 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781135944667 |
ISBN-13 | : 1135944660 |
Rating | : 4/5 (67 Downloads) |
Download or read book Shea Butter Republic written by Brenda Chalfin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-06-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shea butter (butyrospermin parkii) has been produced and sold by rural West African women and circulated on the world market as a raw material for more than a century. Shea butter has been used for cooking, making soap and candles, leatherworking, dying, as a medical and beauty aid, and most significantly, as a substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate production. Now sold in exclusive shops as a high-priced cosmetic and medicinal product, it caters to the desire of cosmopolitan customers worldwide for luxury and exotic self-indulgence. This ethnographic study traces shea from a pre- to post-industrial commodity to provide a deeper understanding of emerging trends in tropical commoditization, consumption, global economic restructuring and rural livelihoods. Also inlcludes seven maps.