Banana Capital
Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator
Published on 4. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-77940-034-5 (ISBN)
Description
ONE OF CHOICE REVIEW'S OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLES OF 2025
For more than a century, banana plantations and farms in Latin America have defined the landscape and economies wherever these fruits are grown-toxic chemicals, exploited workers, and fragile monocultures are their legacy.
At the southern end of Ecuador's la costa region lies the city of Machala, the self-described "Banana Capital" of the world. There, farmers and workers experience alarming rates of negative health effects associated with widespread pesticide use along with precarious and unsafe working conditions. Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator reveals the grim realities of daily life for banana farmers and, beyond that, seeks to understand and address these challenges.
Ben Brisbois's search for understanding leads him back to the 19th-century origins of banana production in the Americas and through over a century of imperialism, bloodshed, and ecological devastation. Along the way, he uncovers how worker-led resistances and the ever-unpredictable ecosystem thwart repeated attempts by powerful multinationals and their government allies to extract more and more wealth from banana plantations at the cost of Latin American health and lives.
Banana Capital reveals the power dynamics of life in the banana industry- dynamics vividly experienced by workers caught in a struggle against corporations prioritizing profit over the health of the land and the community.
For more than a century, banana plantations and farms in Latin America have defined the landscape and economies wherever these fruits are grown-toxic chemicals, exploited workers, and fragile monocultures are their legacy.
At the southern end of Ecuador's la costa region lies the city of Machala, the self-described "Banana Capital" of the world. There, farmers and workers experience alarming rates of negative health effects associated with widespread pesticide use along with precarious and unsafe working conditions. Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator reveals the grim realities of daily life for banana farmers and, beyond that, seeks to understand and address these challenges.
Ben Brisbois's search for understanding leads him back to the 19th-century origins of banana production in the Americas and through over a century of imperialism, bloodshed, and ecological devastation. Along the way, he uncovers how worker-led resistances and the ever-unpredictable ecosystem thwart repeated attempts by powerful multinationals and their government allies to extract more and more wealth from banana plantations at the cost of Latin American health and lives.
Banana Capital reveals the power dynamics of life in the banana industry- dynamics vividly experienced by workers caught in a struggle against corporations prioritizing profit over the health of the land and the community.
Reviews / Votes
"Harsh realities and seeds of hope are simultaneously uncovered in Banana Capital...Ben Brisbois offers anunflinching look at the human and ecological costs behind one of the world's most familiar foods." -Jury Citation, 2026 Saskatchewan Book Awards Publishing Prize
"Banana Capital upends North American notions of bananas as a "healthy" snack by revealing to readers the precarious lives of farm labour in Ecuador-the world's leading exporter of bananas for more than half a century-whose work is marked by social inequalities and exposure to hazardous pesticides. What's more, the author compels readers to find ways to achieve meaningful changes that go beyond virtuous consumption." -John Soluri, author of Banana Cultures
"A deeply thoughtful exploration of global change, and what it might take to transform one of the most unjust industries in the world." -Steve Striffler, co-editor of Banana Wars
"A grim reminder of how plantation ecologies reverberate in human bodies in devastatingly unequal ways." -Julie Guthman, author of Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry
"This is an eye-opening and engaging exploration of one of the world's most popular fruits. Brisbois exposes the social and ecological consequences of the modern industrial banana." -Lenore Newman, author of Speaking in Cod Tongues
"Weaving together the science of banana production with realities of pesticides and poison, Banana Capital is a timely critique of the social, public health, political, and economic realities of the contemporary banana industry." -Kees Jansen, editor of the Journal of Agrarian Change
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Regina
Canada
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
4 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 151 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
555 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77940-034-5 (9781779400345)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ben Brisbois is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine of the Universite de Montreal's School of Public Health. He lives in Montreal.
Content
Figures
Preface
Introduction
PART 1: 1870 - 1960
El pulpo
Race to the Equator
Bananas, Environments, and Histories
Beyond Its Control
The Very, Very Tropical Equator
The Parakeet in the Plantation
PART 2: 1961 - 2000
An Insult
Cavendish Ecologies
Empire's Guinea Pigs
El fruto del neoliberalismo
Healthy Resistance
PART 3: 2001 - 2023
A la costa
Twenty-First-Century Socialism and
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
A Question of Culture
The Illness of the Century
El gringuito
Same Joke, Different Clown
Plagas
The Bananthropocene
PART 4: GREEN FUTURES
Stories
Evidence I: Regulating and Litigating Toxics
Evidence II: Epidemiology and "Developing Countries"
Shopping
Noticing
Plotting
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
Introduction
PART 1: 1870 - 1960
El pulpo
Race to the Equator
Bananas, Environments, and Histories
Beyond Its Control
The Very, Very Tropical Equator
The Parakeet in the Plantation
PART 2: 1961 - 2000
An Insult
Cavendish Ecologies
Empire's Guinea Pigs
El fruto del neoliberalismo
Healthy Resistance
PART 3: 2001 - 2023
A la costa
Twenty-First-Century Socialism and
Contemporary Forms of Slavery
A Question of Culture
The Illness of the Century
El gringuito
Same Joke, Different Clown
Plagas
The Bananthropocene
PART 4: GREEN FUTURES
Stories
Evidence I: Regulating and Litigating Toxics
Evidence II: Epidemiology and "Developing Countries"
Shopping
Noticing
Plotting
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index