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Resumo

Based on research in four communities in Veracruz, Mexico, this article traces the cultural biography of economic change from an economy based primarily on coffee production to one based on migration, bamboo furniture manufacturing, and other livelihoods. In line with other studies, the declining importance of coffee in peasant livelihoods came about with the withdrawal of state support and neoliberal policies that encouraged a shift from quality to quantity production of coffee. Labor scarcity also played a role, however, as families dealt with falling coffee incomes by migrating to wage labor jobs in Mexico and the United States (U.S.). Our work suggests that changing global labor markets, combined with labor scarcities in Mexican communities, are as important to consider in economic change as the more common explanations of state agricultural policy and neoliberalism.

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