Featuring Dr. Kate Fischer and her honorary degree as a coffee-ologist
Where did your interest in cultural anthropology stem from?
I was a Latin American Studies major and Spanish minor in college (Carleton College, in Minnesota). It was an interdisciplinary major and my focus was in anthropology and history. I grew up in a small, white, mostly middle-class too-old-to-be-suburban Connecticut town, and I read a lot, especially fantasy, perhaps looking for more variety in other worlds. Even as a kid I was always noticing things other people missed – small details about people on the street or body language or action – and somehow all that translated into Latin American Studies and then cultural anthropology for grad school.
What courses do you teach at CU?
I teach primarily introductory courses in HRAP and the Honors Program. The most common are ANTH 1200: Culture and Power; ANTH 2100: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology; and WGST 2600: Gender, Race, and Class in the Global Context. I also teach an upper-division anthropology class on Mexico and Central America and an upper-division WGST class on migration. This summer I will be teaching a new intro level Honors class on migration and movement in the United States.
Can you explain more on your coffee research?
I did masters research in Guatemala and my Ph.D. research in Costa Rica. I was fascinated by how different the same exact crop was in both countries: it requires the same work and the same processing, so why was the price so low and the conditions so unequal in Guatemala compared to Costa Rica? History and state involvement have a lot to do with it, but so does the way that Costa Rican coffee is perceived by coffee specialists. After writing about Costa Rican coffee and national identity in my dissertation, I’ve become more focused on the two ends of the coffee chain: one, the way coffee is processed (turned from a cherry into a roastable bean) in Honduras and El Salvador; and two, how coffee roasters and baristas understand quality and sell it to their consumers. This means that I can go from a rural farm in Honduras to giving workshops on sustainability in Amsterdam and then a talk in Denver within the space of a few months.
What was your biggest takeaway or the most surprising thing discovered from your research?
Coffee is really silly, in some ways. Many claim we couldn’t live without it, but it’s not actually necessary for life in the way that water or carbohydrates or protein are. If it disappeared we would all survive, health-wise. And yet there’s an estimated 25 million coffee farmers and over US$100 billion in coffee trade, and it is directly in the line of many of our most pressing world issues: climate change, migration, gender equity, class and upward mobility, biodiversity, and sustainability. So it isn’t really silly after all, and I think it’s a great way to learn about those issues because everyone can relate to coffee. Even if you don’t drink it, if you’re a college student in the US you’ve undoubtedly been to a coffee shop. Your friends or family drink it. And we can use this simple thing we’re all connected to in order to understand some really complicated things about the world.
Outside of the academic world, what are some of your hobbies?
I have an 8 month old Dalmation/Great Pyrenees/German Short Haired Pointer puppy, so he takes up most of my time. He loves hiking so I try to do that with him every weekend. I also am an assistant coach of a youth swim team in Boulder and I occasionally do triathlons. When I’m less energized, I enjoy playing board games and knitting.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Teaching in HRAP is such a joy for me as a professor. I teach discussion classes, and it can be really intimidating as a first-year student to talk about race and gender and class and privilege in a way that you may never have been asked to do in high school. HRAP students always rise to the challenge and are willing to take intellectual risks, to admit when they don’t know an answer, and to think hard about other perspectives. No matter what you go on to do in life, these are skills that will serve you well. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this community!