Chocolate - the very word conjures up a hint of the forbidden and a taste of the decadent. Yet the story behind the chocolate bar is rarely one of luxury.
From the thousands of children who work on plantations to the smallholders who harvest the beans, Chocolate Nations reveals the hard economic realities of our favourite sweet. This vivid and gripping exploration of the reasons behind farmer poverty includes the human stories of the producers and traders at the heart of the West African industry. Orla Ryan shows that only a tiny fraction of the cash we pay for a chocolate bar actually makes it back to the farmers, and sheds light on what Fair Trade really means on the ground.
Provocative and eye-opening, Chocolate Nations exposes the true story of how the treat we love makes it on to our supermarket shelves.
Dowden, Richard: - After studying history at London University, Richard Dowden taught as a volunteer in Uganda in 1971-2. On his return to Britain he worked for a peace organisation in Northern Ireland and then became a journalist, becoming editor of the Catholic Herald in 1976 and joining The Times foreign desk in 1980 travelling extensively in Africa. He became Africa Editor at the Independent at its foundation in 1986 and in 1995 he was invited to join The Economist as Africa Editor. He left The Economist to work as a freelance journalist and writer and in 2003 he became Director of the Royal African Society. He has made three full length documentaries on Africa for Channel 4 and the BBC and also several shorter films and appears frequently as a commentator on African affairs on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Sky News and other media. His book: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles was published by Portobello Books in September 2008. He is married with two daughters and lives in London.
Honwana, Alcinda: - Alcinda Honwana is visiting professor of anthropology and international development at the Open University (UK). She was chair in international development at the Open University and taught anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, University of Cape Town and the New School in New York. She was also programme director at the Social Science Research Council in New York. Honwana has written extensively on the links between political conflict and culture and on the impact of violent conflict on children and youth, conducting research in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Colombia and Sri Lanka. Her latest work has been on youth transitions and social change in Africa, focusing on Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Alcinda Honwana's latest publications include: The Time of Youth: Work, social change, and politics in Africa, 2012; Child Soldiers in Africa, 2006; and Makers and Breakers: Children and youth in postcolonial Africa, 2005 (co-edited). She was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity in the Netherlands in 2008.
Kitchen, Stephanie: - Chair of the Publications Committee, International African Institute
Ryan, Órla: - Orla Ryan works for the Financial Times in London. She lived in Africa for more than four years, first in Uganda, and then in Ghana, where she worked for Reuters.
Waal, Alex de: - Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at Tufts University. During 2009-11 he served as senior advisor to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and Program Director at the Social Science Research Council. His academic research has focused on issues of famine, conflict and human rights in Africa including. He was awarded an OBE in the UK New Year's Honors List of 2009, was on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of 100 public intellectuals in 2008, and the Atlantic Monthly list of 27 'brave thinkers' in 2009.
