Sacred Trees, Bitter Harvests

Weiss explores the dynamic relation of specific local, regional, and global understandings of value as manifested in the coffee of rural Haya communities. His investigation offers critical insight into the significance of colonial and postcolonial encounters in this region of Africa. In Northwest Tanzania, coffee is much more than a drink. Colonial and postcolonial relations have long been intertwined with coffee. The medium of coffee tangibly connects Haya men and women to the wider world of international markets and commodity exchanges. Efforts to develop and expand production in the region's Haya communities have been a major concern of international and local agencies, from turn-of-the-century missionaries who introduced new varieties of coffee to Haya farmers, to contemporary Field Extension Officers who promulgate new cultivation techniques.