Coffee is the direct product of a past rooted in slavery in its beginnings. Even today, remnants of coffee's colonial legacy can be found in the coffee world. Some are more present, others resonate subconsciously.
Christian Cwik is a historian at the Institute for Inter-American Studies at the University of Graz. I spoke with him about what colonialism actually is, how the development of coffee production plays a role, and how slavery laid the foundation for the rapid development of coffee production in South America.
Engaging with coffee's past is essential to recognizing and understanding the structures of injustice that still prevail today. The podcast resembles a 90-minute lecture with excursions and anecdotes that objectively dissects and contextualizes the major topic.
