Ethnic Lens Research Articles

Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers, and Local Communities in the Civil War Era by Ryan W. Keating

Reviewed by: Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers, and Local Communities in the Civil War Era by Ryan W. Keating William S. Cossen Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers, and Local Communities in the Civil War Era. By Ryan W. Keating. The North's Civil War. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017. Pp. [x], 312. Paper, $40.00, ISBN 978-0-8232-7660-8; cloth, $140.00, ISBN 978-0-8232-7659-2.) In recent years, the study of the Civil War era has benefited from a number of fine works on Irish Americans in the Confederate and Union armies. Scholars such as Susannah J. Ural, David T. Gleeson, William B. Kurtz, and Christian G. Samito have expanded historians' understanding of how members of this immigrant group fought for their adopted nation—a nation that had too frequently welcomed them not with open arms but rather with nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-immigrant violence. Ryan W. Keating's Shades of Green: Irish Regiments, American Soldiers, and Local Communities in the Civil War Era represents a worthy addition to the literature on Irish soldiers in the Union army. Keating offers a persuasive, original argument tying together dual nationalisms, localism, and ethnicity, while adding needed nuance to the scholarly conversation on this important nineteenth-century immigrant group. Keating notes that previous works on the Irish in the Civil War have tended to regard these individuals as members of a singular "Irish America" (p. 13). Instead, the author argues, scholars should conceive of the Irish of the Civil War era as living in the much more complex, plural "Irish Americas," a term that accounts for local variations among Irish Americans in different cities and states (p. 13). Rather than analyzing the Irish soldiers of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia—the typical settings of scholarship on the subject—Keating shifts his focus to three less-studied regiments: the Ninth Connecticut, the Twenty-third Illinois, and the Seventeenth Wisconsin. The author rightly calls for more attention to be paid not only to other predominantly Irish units of the war but also to the ongoing interplay between soldiers and their local communities, which had decisive roles in shaping Irish Americans' conceptions of the American nation and in weakening the forces of nativism over the course of the war. The book is built on a remarkable database that Keating produced, which provides insights into the wartime and postbellum experiences of more than five thousand soldiers in the three regiments. Keating's demographic and quantitative analysis in the book's first three chapters is superb. The principal takeaway from this opening section is just how important local circumstances were in influencing how Irish soldiers experienced the war and how the home front interpreted their sacrifices in service of the nation. In many cases, antebellum nativism gave way to positive stereotyping of Irish soldiers as heroic, fierce warriors demonstrating "ethnic bravery" on the battlefield, even though the same soldiers "rarely appeared to think of their time in the army and, in particular in battle, through ethnic lenses" (pp. 107, 110-11). Chapter 6, which deals with Irish soldiers' reactions to the New York City draft riots of 1863, is especially effective. Because Keating so successfully integrates diverse Irish American experiences into his analysis, readers come away from the book with a new understanding of Irish loyalty during the war. When New York City's Irish population is conflated with the totality of Keating's Irish Americas, scholars might assume that all Irish immigrants turned against the war in the [End Page 455] wake of the draft. To the contrary, Keating demonstrates, there was no unified Irish response to the draft. Irish soldiers from Connecticut, Illinois, and Wisconsin continued to serve with distinction throughout the war, and their local communities likewise expressed fervent support for the Union cause up to and beyond the draft riots. Somewhat less successful are the book's final two chapters on the home front and soldiers' efforts to reintegrate into northern society after the war. The research, as in the rest of the book, is strong, but the chapters do not offer as much of an original argument. Although Keating focuses on three...

Wenn Gleichheit in Gefahr ist

The article is concerned with a particular dimension of equality norms: Do equality clauses imply a duty for lawmakers and the government not only to respect but also to protect and to promote equality? The concept of Schutzpflichten is well-known in the context of fundamental freedoms. Is the concept valid in the context of equality clauses? The article answers the question in the affirmative. When doing so, the article draws on equality clauses addressing groups who are defined through the lens of ethnicity or race: the minority regime established by the League of Nations, the UN sponsored International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the German Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG). The international sources were among the first to establish equality-based norms on the international level, the AGG is among the most recent sources. The article also argues that the emergence and the interpretation of the pertinent equality clauses was and is accompanied by practices of comparison aimed to demonstrate that ‘equality’ is in danger. Duties to protect and to promote respond to such calls.

Evaluating the Roles of Regional Based Political Parties in Fostering Ethnic Unity in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia (Since 1991)

In multi-ethnic federations which were particularly established to manage the existing diversity, the political parties should promote, preserve and protect the existing diversity and simultaneously endorse the sense of unity. Under multi-ethnic states political parties as one main actor should audaciously nurture sense of unity in diversity ideally and practically. Here, fostering ethnic unity means not only sharing identical political philosophy among individuals or groups, but it also remind as that individuals or groups may have differences in opinion and leaning. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to critically examining the practical role of regional based political parties in promotion of ethnic unity under contemporary Benishangul Gumuz Regional State (hereafter used as BGRS). In this regard, the author of this paper collected various empirical data through personal interviews, focus group discussions and administering survey questionnaire. Based on the information gained through various research instruments the author concluded that despite the fact that the government has recognized the creation of ethnic political parties as a positive political measure to promote every ethnic group in the country to have a sense of belonging, but in contrast, the existence of ethnic based political parties and hasty mushrooming of narrow ethno-nationalist politics has constituted one major impediment to promote unity and peaceful coexistence among various ethnic groups in BGRS. Moreover, the writer also argued that organizing political parties only through political lens of ethnicity would gradually create elevated ethnic fundamentalism, chauvinism and parochialism among politicians and individuals. And later it also opened the door for politicians and individuals to play lopsided proxy ethnic political game within the neighbouring regional states and consequently this situation tend to ethnic conflict. Thus, this kind of political party establishment road-map in the country has paved the way to series ethnic conflicts which resulted major predicaments and disunity among various ethnic groups in the country in general and regional states in particular. Keywords: Political Party; BGRS; Ethnicity; Ethnic Unity; Ethnic Conflict; Ethnic Diversity; Politicians DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-1-06

Falling Down, Falling Apart, and Finding Home in Reservation Blues

This essay explores journeys toward and away from ‘home’ in Sherman Alexie’s 1995 novel Reservation Blues. The textual analysis is grounded in Janet Zandy’s (1993) literal and figurative conceptions of home. Situating Alexie’s magical realism within the matrix of poverty-class, race, ethnic, and postcolonial lenses, this essay reveals a range of tragic and hopeful responses to Indigenous colonization on the Spokane Reservation.

Discerning Disparities: The Data Gap.

Health disparities that focus on gender and on the ancillary dependent variables of race and ethnicity reflect continually early illness, compromised quality of life, and often premature and preventable deaths. The inability of the nation to eliminate disparities also track along race and gender in communities where a limited number of health-care providers and policymakers identify as being from these traditionally underserved and marginalized population groups. Epidemiologists and other researchers and analysts have traditionally failed to integrate the social determinants of health and other variables known to support upward mobility in their predictive analyses of health status. The poor, and poor men of color particularly, begin a descent to invisibility and separation that has been witnessed since the early days of this nation. This history has the majority of men of color mired in poverty or near poverty and has more substantively and explicitly affected both American Indians and Africans forced into immigration into the United States and into slavery. Other racial and ethnic groups including large distinct ethnic groups of Asian Americans and Hispanics/Latinx do not have their treatment by systems fully reported from a health and social justice perspective simply because the systems do not disaggregate by race and ethnicity. It is axiomatic that examining disparities through the lens of race, ethnicity, and gender provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon what is known about boys’ and men’s health, particularly men from communities of color, and about payment systems. Integration of all populations into the enumeration of morbidity, mortality, and disparity indices is a dynamic reflection of the vision and exclusive actions of decision makers.

Minority Influence and the Struggle for Recognition: Towards an Articulation between Social Influence Research and Theory of Recognition

In a broader social context where the social divisions have increasingly come to be seen through cultural or ethnic lenses, one-sided concern with identity dynamics runs the risk of defining social categories in essential terms, emphasize issues of cultural incompatibility, and reduce social influence phenomena to ingroups allegiances. Mugny and his colleagues argued that minority influence and social identifications processes interacted in such a way as producing conditions allowing outgroups to exert a genuine influence. Adopting an interactionnist approach to the study of racism and xenophobia, which in turn builds on Axel Honneth’s (1996) philosophical theory of recognition, it will be argued that assuming the very possibility of outgoup influence emphasizes the role of the voice, in particular of minorities, as chance to enter into processes of persuasion. This voice can be seen as a bulwark against the ethnic and cultural divisions that undermine contemporary societies’ democratic purpose.

Introduction

Introduction

Conceptualising youth mobility trajectories: thinking beyond conventional categories

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that migration impacts youth outcomes, including educational performance and mental and physical health. It is, however, unknown whether differing patterns of mobility affect young people differently. This is because scholarship and policy-making on youth and migration simplify youth mobility by conceptualising youth either as immobile (when they ‘stay behind’ while their parents migrate) or as moving only once (when they follow parents or migrate independently). Between these extremes is the possibly more common phenomenon of youth who engage in sustained mobility patterns prior to, during, and after their first international move. This paper explores how youth mobility can be conceptualised to include the often-complex mobility patterns exhibited by youth in today’s global cities. Through an analysis of detailed mobility data collected using mixed methods among young Ghanaians growing up in and between the Netherlands and Ghana, we propose a typology of their mobility trajectories that highlights the variety of mobility patterns that youth engage in. Such a typology helps move research beyond the ethnic lens and rigid dichotomies between internal and international migration. We argue that the diversity of youth mobilities needs to be taken into account in order to understand how migration affects youth.

Indigenous Healing Practices and Asian Immigrant Women

ABSTRACTThe current article highlights the importance of indigenous psychology for Asian immigrant women. A brief overview is provided about Asian American immigration and the importance of understanding women’s experiences with the contextual lens of gender, ethnicity, and race. Key values relevant to help-seeking and service utilization are also presented. Complementary alternative approaches to Western-based mental health treatment are discussed as ways in which feminist and multicultural treatment approaches can be integrated. Given the inherent diversity of Asians and Asian Americans, which includes over 60 ethnic subgroups, the article is not meant to provide an exhaustive list of available native practices nor to reflect the experiences of Asians as a homogenous group. Instead, the goal of this article is to provide readers with an understanding of how culturally based healing practices and concepts are needed to complement and contribute to our extant understanding of help-seeking. We conclude by highlighting the ways in which Western-based healthcare would benefit by integrating indigenous practices with gender and ethnic/racial cultural perspectives.

Mentoring Females and Minorities into Higher Education

Whether we see through the lens of gender or ethnicity, the perception of self defines our work. The lossof women and people of color from tenure earning positions in higher education argues for moreproductive initiatives if we are to attract, retain, and promote female and minority faculty (Howard-Vital& Morgan, 1993). The literature overwhelmingly supports the benefits of mentoring in easing theloneliness and confusion that can derail women and people of color in higher education (Howard-Vital &Morgan).

After Identity: Mennonite Writing in North America by Robert Zacharias

Reviewed by: After Identity: Mennonite Writing in North America by Robert Zacharias Jesse Hutchison (bio) Robert Zacharias. After Identity: Mennonite Writing in North America. Penn State UP, 2015. 256 pp. ISBN 978-0271070384, $29.95. After Identity, Robert Zacharias's edited collection of essays on Mennonite writing in North America, is a crucial and timely call for a shift in Mennonite literary criticism.1 The book features twelve papers derived from a 2013 conference of the same name that convincingly argue in favor of turning away from the identity-focused critiques that seek to situate Mennonite literature in a cultural or religious context. Zacharias points out both in his introduction and, in more substantial detail, his earlier book, Rewriting the Break Event, that Mennonite literature, in Canada at least, emerged in an era that saw the marketability of cultural and ethnic difference (Rewriting 42–43). Thus, identity became a central focus as mainstream presses coaxed exoticizing stories of the "Mennonite experience" while critics predominantly viewed minoritized literature through the lens of race and ethnicity. In his own essay in After Identity, titled "The Mennonite Thing," Zacharias observes that what was especially problematic about the focus on identity was precisely that any notion of an "essential, static, and authentic Mennonite identity" was by nature a reductive depiction that was inevitably "expressed through (but not reducible to) stereotypical markers of Mennonite culture, language and faith" (108). Mennonites and their culture were, consequently, reduced to "quilts, Borscht, head coverings, Zwiebach, and so on" (109). The [End Page 389] negative effects of this kind of stereotyping are obvious, not in the least because "identity remains an issue for people in minority groups if for no other reason than because they keep making fun of us" (196, emphasis in original), as Magdalene Redekop points out in her essay, "'Is Menno in There?'" Critics only reinforce this stereotyping by focusing specifically on the ways in which Mennonite literature serves as an expression of Mennonite identity, yet this theoretical approach has been powerful and consequently hard for critics to shake. Admittedly, my own work on Mennonite life writing has fallen into this trap; however, identity politics have been so dominating that it has been difficult for critics to know precisely where else to take Mennonite literature. I would suggest that After Identity provides critics with a helpful and much needed new perspective. Indeed, for anyone who wishes to analyze Mennonite literature, After Identity is now a crucial text because of how deftly and succinctly it puts to rest what has been the dominant and increasingly more reductive lens of viewing Mennonite literature since the inception of contemporary Mennonite literary criticism. Those who do not read this text risk falling into outdated traps of viewing Mennonite literature for its expression of an authentic Mennonite culture or identity. Instead, the book offers an array of alternate methods of investigating Mennonite-authored texts, such as Paul Tiessen's fascinating exploration of the publishing politics that went into the production of Rudy Wiebe's Peace Shall Destroy Many, the first major Mennonite novel written in English. Tiessen, examining the first edition's book jacket, points out that the influence of publisher Jack McClelland was so significant that it ultimately produced a heretofore unacknowledged hybrid text of "multiple ownership" (73). Similarly, in "Queering Mennonite Literature," Daniel Shank Cruz argues that focusing specifically "on a single aspect of a person's identity" works to foreclose other modes of identity such as gender, nation, class, and sexuality (143). Shank Cruz considers "hybrid queer-Mennonite identities" in order to, among other things, broaden the scope of queer discourse to incorporate narratives that emphasize the importance of the "moral journey" (144). For scholars of auto/biography, After Identity does not, unfortunately, include an essay that strictly deals with Mennonite life writing. Spicher Kasdorf's article on "The Autoethnographic Announcement and the Story," however, examines texts that contain a "declaration of identity" that "always erupts as an instance of apparent nonfiction, even in fictional works" (25, emphasis in original). The article reveals that many Mennonite authors have been compelled to explain Mennonitism to their audiences—in effect, giving readers what appears to be the real scoop on...

Ethnicity as a Hindrance for Understanding Ethiopian History: An Argument Against an Ethnic Late Nineteenth Century

Abstract:Despite its present ethnic federalism, Ethiopian history has been marked by provincial or cultural identities, which twentieth century notions of identity have obscured. This essay gives three major reasons why ethnicity is not an effective lens to understand Ethiopia’s complex history. One, there is no agreement among either popular and academic writers on what ethnic identities in Ethiopia represents, either currently or historically. Two, a focus on ethnicity obscures the rationale behind the actions of the state and key actors during the nineteenth century. Three, an ethnic lens brings much needed scholarly attention away from key moments in the nineteenth century.

Exploring local knowledge and preferences for shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) ethnovarieties in Southwest Burkina Faso through a gender and ethnic lens

In Africa’s ‘shea belt’, the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) plays a central role in rural livelihoods and ecosystems. Yet, it faces many threats. The aim of this study is to examine local people’s classification systems and preferences for shea ethnovarieties in Burkina Faso to support domestication efforts that respect local priorities. Work was carried out among the Bobo, Sambla, Mosse and FulBe ethnic groups in two villages in south-west Burkina Faso. Participatory characterization and ranking matrices were used with 10 groups segregated by gender and ethnicity to understand if knowledge and preferences for shea ethnovarieties vary between gender and ethnic groups. Results show a general agreement across groups about top-cited ethnovariety names, characteristics and key criteria defining the classification system. Participants identified a total of 25 shea ethnovarieties according to 11 primary fruit and nut variants. The number of ethnovarieties cited varied slightly across groups, with greater consistency across ethnicities than across gender groups. Each ethnic and gender group identified certain ethnovarieties not cited by their ethnic or gender counterparts. Two ethnovarieties – ‘small shea fruit’ and ‘big shea fruit’ – were preferred across groups. The study highlights the value of gender-sensitive participatory research for understanding local botanical knowledge and preferences.

Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Using an intersectional framework, this article discusses the barriers to social services that Latina victims of intimate partner violence encounter, a drastically underdeveloped area of theorizing. We argue that placing Latinas at the center of analysis will facilitate empirical knowledge, which is necessary because mainstream inquiry has historically ignored their interests. First, we discuss cultural barriers through the lenses of gender, race, and ethnicity. Second, we describe socioeconomic barriers in conjunction with gender, race, and ethnicity. Third, we examine legal barriers along with the representation of gender, race, and ethnicity. Finally, we suggest directions for research and recommendations for service providers.

What an ethnic lens can conceal: the emergence of a shared racialised identity position among young descendants of migrants in Sweden

ABSTRACTThe article problematises the use of the ethnic lens in research on the young descendants of migrants. It discusses methodological and theoretical insights derived from an interview study on young people from the same neighbourhood in Stockholm, Sweden – the majority of whom had parents with varying ethnic identifications. Because the study did not use any one particular ethnic group as an entry point, it illuminates processes of racialisation that exceed ethnic boundaries and the development of a racialised identity position shared by descendants with different ethnic ties. It thereby contributes to an expanding field of European studies that ethnographically illustrate racialisation of the migrant descendants in different European contexts, and their diverse answers to racialisation. Compared to US experiences, this specific European mode of racialisation limits the range of identity positions offered to a higher extent and furthermore positions a wider span of people as non-white. By focusing on the relationship between how people are represented and how they perceive themselves the article further questions the transnational perspective as an alternative means for circumventing the ethnic lens. The incorporation of a transnational perspective in this research was namely perceived by the participants as ascriptions of ethnic otherness.

Afghanistan's India–Pakistan dilemma: advocacy coalitions in weak states

This article seeks to examine the foreign policy behaviour of weak states in regions marked by politically turbulent geostrategic environments. An analysis of Afghanistan's foreign policy behaviour vis-à-vis Pakistan and India lends focus to this aim. India–Pakistan rivalry has gained traction as a key factor in determining Afghanistan's stability in the wake of the drawdown of Coalition forces. Missing from this debate, however, is consideration of Afghanistan's agency as a weak state with an independent set of policy preferences. Based on primary interviews with a diverse set of Afghan political actors the article outlines two competing policy advocacies: Pakistan friendly and Pakistan averse. The article argues that these advocacies are key to understanding Afghanistan's India–Pakistan dilemma. Departing from the ethnic lens used to explain Afghan politics and its regional linkages, this article shows that Kabul's relations with Islamabad determine its approach towards New Delhi regardless of ethnic rivalries. Understanding domestic Afghan narratives in this regional context is therefore imperative to adequately assess South Asia's prospective security calculus.

Beyond Insiders and Outsiders in Migration Research: Rejecting A Priori Commonalities. Introduction to the FQS Thematic Section on "Researcher, Migrant, Woman: Methodological Implications of Multiple Positionalities in Migration Studies"

This editorial discusses the main strings of debates linking the discussions of research, gendered identities and concerns of methodological nationalism and groupism in migration studies. The insider/outsider dichotomy has been discussed in the academic literature for many years and in migration research this usually takes the form of ethnic/national categories. We suggest that researchers now need to think of abandoning these narrow and static views of their participants so as to challenge the dominance of the ethnic lens in migration studies. In this introductory article and in the articles that make up this thematic section, we aim to open a critical discussion of gender, identity, sameness, difference and ethnicity to explore the complex, shifting and multilayered dynamics that under-pin research encounters. Far from the assumed commonalities usually associated with insider research, we suggest instead that starting from a position of uncertainty challenges taken for granted groupist notions and enables researchers to be open to a wide array of possibilities in their encounters with participants. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1502183

‘Always up for the craic’: young Irish professional migrants narrating ambiguous positioning in contemporary Britain

This paper explores the experiences of recent Irish highly qualified migrants who, having left post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, arrive in post-‘Peace Agreement’ Britain. Our paper contributes to understanding the enduring salience of place and how expressions of identities are framed by specific place-based factors as well as by temporality. We explore how these migrants’ narratives, as ‘successful’ professionals, are framed by complex intersections of historical legacies and changing socio-economic and intra-EU migration patterns. We consider the extent to which residual anti-Irish stereotypes remain, or indeed have re-emerged since the economic recession, and how these negative perceptions may impact on expressions of Irishness. Focusing on accents and other markers of identity, we discuss how Irishness may be constructed through a spectrum of visibilities at different times and in different places. This spatial-temporal perspective may help to go beyond a simplistic, one dimensional ethnic lens by highlighting the contextualities of identities.

Friendship-making: Exploring Network Formations through the Narratives of Irish Highly Qualified Migrants in Britain

The paper, drawing on narrative analysis of qualitative research with Irish highly qualified migrants in Britain, examines the processes of friendship-making in contexts of mobility. In so doing, I consider what stories of making new friends in new places, reveal about interconnections between selection opportunities but also obstacles, as well as the role of preferences and shared interests. My work contributes to the recent resurgence of interest in place by exploring the salience of proximate, situated, local relationships as sources of emotional support and sociality, even among migrant professionals. Adopting a focus on friendship-making, I seek to go beyond a narrow notion of homophily—defined by an ethnic lens—to understand how migrants draw upon different aspects of identities to forge links and build relationships with a diverse range of people. The paper lies at the nexus of related but distinct bodies of literature—migration, social network analysis and friendship—to explore where, how, why and with who migrants form new friendship networks. I suggest that by connecting these approaches there is potential not only to develop a more thorough understanding of sociality in mobility but also to overcome some gaps within each of these approaches.

The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry by Tamara L. Stenn (review)

Reviewed by: The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry by Tamara L. Stenn Josh Fisher Tamara L. Stenn, The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2013. 288 pp. Readers who expect an elaborate critical discourse on any of the keywords in this title, The Cultural and Political Intersection of Fair Trade and Justice: Managing a Global Industry, will ultimately be disappointed. Indeed, in this book, the word discourse makes not a single appearance, at least not in the Foucauldian sense. But, then again, the book is not written for such an audience. Rather, authored by a 15-year fair trade activist and founder of a fair trade retailer of Bolivian knit alpaca sweaters, it is written for students, businesspeople, and development practitioners with the goal of giving an inside perspective on the many challenges and hopes of fair trade, while offering concrete recommendations along the way. Stenn frames her project as an interdisciplinary attempt to assess fair trade by combining the disciplines of management, economics, and anthropology and measuring its impact on the ground through the lenses of ethnicity, gender, politics, and culture. As the title suggests, its overarching goal is to bring to the fore the forgotten voices of fair trade producers, whose ideas about justice and fairness, it turns out, are quite unlike our own. The book is divided into four sections, for a total of 12 short chapters, each of which ends with a section of supplementary materials or exercises for teaching students about fair trade and justice. In the first section, Stenn provides a lengthy overview of the four “pillars” of fair trade: institutions, consumers, producers, and government. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the experience of the author, the introductory and first chapter on institutions are the strongest. Stenn presents a thorough overview of fair trade organizations, highlighting their different principles and situating those principles within the specific narratives of their emergence—including the [End Page 209] “coming to consciousness” narratives of fabled fair trade pioneers, Francisco VanderHoff Boersma (founder of Max Havelaar) and Edna Ruth Byler (Ten Thousand Villages). Stenn also situates fair trade within the broader context of non-industry fair trading strategies, like direct trade, ethical trade, local trade, and the solidarity economy, which each have their own social and cultural logic. Unfortunately, the following chapters are much weaker. The chapter on consumers is largely a market report about fair trade, framed theoretically by a variation on rational choice theory. The chapter on government, which overdraws the difference between “free” and “fair,” is missing an important discussion on governance, or forms of social accountability that derive not from the state but from a much wider range of social actors like consumers, NGOs, and other organizations and networks. The chapter on producers, likewise, attempts to inventory the now well-rehearsed benefits that fair trade delivers to producers, like increased prices and access to markets, education, and long-term economic security. What ties this section together is a theoretical framework set out in the introduction and applied uniformly throughout the remainder of the text: Amartya Sen’s (2009) discussion of “the idea of justice.” According to Sen, as Stenn points out, Western philosophical traditions elide the important distinction between multiple forms of justice, as is evident in Indian philosophy. The first is niti, which conveys an institutional and rule-centered approach, such as in the Rawlsian juridical tradition. The second is nyaya, which instead attempts to capture the “spirit” of a much more inclusive justice, realized through such things as right intention, plural grounding, and public reasoning. What is startling about Stenn’s “application” of Sen’s framework is that it is never questioned, critically examined, or compared with other theoretical frameworks for what they might hide or bring to light. Sen’s framework is merely imposed on the text, which allows Stenn to make unwarranted claims like, “As the industry grows and reshapes itself through changes in the niti guidelines, the nyaya mission of Fair Trade stays clear, promoting greater equity and better trade conditions for marginalized people worldwide” (26). The second and third sections of the...