i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

fieldwork, including surveying, interviewing, and documenting farmers’ and community
members’ opinions and attitudes regarding cooperative enterprise and export to specialty
markets. My goal was to view international development and alternative development
firsthand.
As participant observers my research partner and I lived with the Gonzalez family
in San Juan and on their farm during harvest. Our residence in San Juan brought us much
closer to the people of the community than my previous experiences conducting visits
alongside development workers had. Kelly and I shared meals and watched TV with the
family. Danilo Gonzalez introduced me to other member-farmers in his co-op. He
brought me to the farms in Las Grietas. The Gonzalez family felt that it was in our best
interest to stay with them, and with time we found this to be true. Although living with a
family involved a difficult adjustment, it was a worthwhile entry into San Juan, initially a
seemingly uninviting and untrusting community.
This research mode entailed working with farmers on their farms, when possible.
In some cases, the farmers did not do the actual physical labor. I did provide a few of the
small family farmers in the Las Grietas community with physical assistance, and they
were appreciative. I also oversaw certification renewal, assisted in farm site visits, and
negotiated direct markets for the cooperative in which the Las Grietas farmers were
members, UCA-San Juan del Río Coco. Kelly and I were commissioned at one point to
supervise the construction of a preschool in a nearby community with social development
funds from fair trade coffee sales.
Shortly after arriving, I conducted a community survey of Las Grietas to collect
data on income sources, educational level, political affiliation, numbers of offspring, etc.
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