Alyssa Paredes (ANTH)

Alyssa Paredes (ANTH) received a CEAS Summer Travel & Research Grant and a Charles Kao Fund Research Grant to help support her summer project, “Artisanal Production and Alternative Economies in Inter-Asian Fair Trade Networks.”  Alyssa also received a CEAS Summer Language Mini-Grant to participate in the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS) summer intensive Japanese language study program at Doshisha University.

To begin, could you please provide a brief summary of your research?

Broadly speaking, I’m interested in the relationship between “alternative economies” and the “mainstream market.”  For my Ph.D. research, I am planning on doing an ethnographic commodity chain study following an Alternative Trade Organization’s trade in Philippine balangon banana from its production sites on Negros Island in the Philippines, to its consumption sites in the neighborhoods of urban Japan.  I am curious to find out about how conscious consumers in Japan are partnering with small-scale producers in the Philippines to operationalize their visions of an “alternative economy” under the pressures of free market agreements proposed by the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the 2015 ASEAN integration.  I am interested in the balangon banana specifically because it is a wild Cavendish cultivar with characteristic biological properties that limit its cultivation to bio-diverse settings, making it uniquely resistant to mono-crop plantation.

How did you first get interested in your topic of research?

My interest in this particular trade network is actually an offshoot of a much more longstanding interest I’ve had in the lives of small-scale producers. I started making pottery as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, and I did a Fulbright project from 2011-2012 conducting fieldwork in two important folkcraft villages in Southwestern Japan called Onta and Koishiwara. While there, it became apparent to me that despite the villages’ relative geographic isolation and the small volumes of their production, they were very much involved in larger global networks, both of objects and ideas. The potters were sending their products around Japan and all the way to Europe, and they were also actively grappling with the philosophies of folkcraft idealist movements around the globe.   

For my graduate studies, I thought it would be fascinating to deepen and lengthen my ethnographic work to include not only the methods of production, but also of transportation and consumption - in essence, the entire commodity chain. As someone who grew up in the Philippines, I became personally invested in thinking about producer and consumer relationships between Japan and the Philippines in particular.

What did you do for your summer project?

With support from the Yale Council on East Asian Studies, I spent four months over the last summer doing preliminary exploratory fieldwork and advanced language training in Japan and the Philippines. I dedicated most of my fieldwork to mapping out the trade networks of Alternative Trade Organizations (ATO’s) between the two countries. This meant a couple of things: figuring out who were the major organizations involved, what were the major commodities being imported and exported, and how/when partnerships had formed between Japanese consumers and intermediaries and Filipino producers. These explorations took me from urban Manila, to the rural outskirts of Negros Island, to the cities and suburbs of Kyoto and the larger Tokyo/Kanagawa region.

Halfway through the summer, I participated in the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies at Doshisha University, where I took advanced Japanese language classes, did some original research with Japanese texts, and participated in a couple of student organizations dedicated to promoting alternative forms of trade like Fair-Trade.

I ended my summer by attending the International Institute for Asian Studies’ Summer School in Chiang Mai, Thailand for two weeks. I had the chance to meet scholars, policy-makers and practitioners interested in the central theme of “Reading Craft: Itineraries of Culture, Knowledge and Power in the Global Ecumene.” This was a wonderful opportunity to think through some of my earlier ethnographic work with Japanese potters, and consider the role of small-scale producers in large global trade networks more broadly.

What would you say were the most interesting findings of your summer research?  Were there any surprises?

I was surprised by the ubiquitous Japanese presence when I traveled to Negros Island, known as the “Sugar Capital of the Philippines.” From NGO workers and medium-sized enterprises, to tour groups and student volunteers, a diverse assembly of Japanese people seemed to be drawn to, if not invested in, this rural Philippine island, for reasons of which I was not initially aware. I spent a significant part of my summer fieldwork trying to delve deeper into this history of Japanese involvement in the Philippines, and found out about a fascinating story harkening back to the 1970’s and 1980’s period of radical Leftist activism in response to the Vietnam War, the Philippine Marcos presidency, and the world sugar crisis that hit Negros, a “one crop economy” in sugar cane, especially hard. I am planning to continue this research for my Ph.D. dissertation.

What was the most challenging part of your summer research?  Were you able to overcome these challenges?

I found that one of the more challenging things this summer was directing all my attention and energy to my language study program at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. For the two months that I was enrolled at KCJS in Kyoto, there was constant temptation to get my homework done quickly and continue doing exploratory work for my fieldwork project. The Ph.D. program at Yale often does not allow room for taking a language course while on campus, so it was crucial that I really focus on advanced language acquisition while the opportunity was available. I found a happy compromise by using homework assignments and class projects, where appropriate, to practice drafting introductory letters, “Thank you” letters, interview questions, and the like, in Japanese with the support of my language instructors. For my final presentation and research project, I did a directed reading session on a topic relevant to my research.

Now that you are back on campus, what is the next step for your research? 

Now that I am back at Yale, I’m looking forward to spending some time gathering my thoughts and reflecting on the directions that this research project could potentially take. I am enjoying incorporating some of the questions that came up from my summer fieldwork into the broader themes I’m exploring through coursework in Anthropology. I collected quite a bit of reading material in Japan and the Philippines, and I’m excited to dive into those literatures, especially as I begin to prepare grant proposals and research prospectuses for the near future. Practically speaking, I am hoping to start some tutoring through the DILS program in Ilonggo/Hiligaynon, a Philippine Visayan dialect spoken on Negros Island, where I hope to continue doing fieldwork.

Do you have any words of advice for graduate students who plan to do research abroad next summer?

I found it very helpful to begin making some research connections and setting up interview appointments before leaving for the field. I realized that between fieldwork and language study, the time available for meeting potential research informants would be scarce and, therefore, precious. Knowing that it can take several weeks to arrange meetings, I sent out some emails introducing myself to individuals and organizations I was interested in getting to know further. I attached a concise and clearly written one-page summary of my project ideas, goals, methods, and ethical considerations (IRB-related matters), in case they were interested in knowing more about my research. I was very pleasantly surprised at the hospitality I received in response. After every conversation, I made sure to ask if there might be anyone else with whom they thought I could speak, and I used those connections to expand the network.

All that said, serendipity is a very important part to fieldwork, no matter where one works in the world. While being prepared and purposive can make for a productive experience, I think it is equally, if not more, important to always be open to new directions in response to whatever you experience on the ground.