Decolonizing the History of Coffee

Abstract

Coffee’s history provides a pathway into understanding the discussions about ‘decolonisation’ that have achieved such prominence in the media over the last few years. That was why Jonathan Morris, author of Coffee: A Global History and co-producer of the A History of Coffee podcast series. invited his fellow historian, Peter D’Sena, a leading advocate of educational decolonisation, to collaborate with him to explore how concepts such as colonialism and coloniality can enable us to think more deeply about coffee’s past and its significance for the industry today. Jonathan and Peter consider how not just coffee’s history, but the current industry, might be decolonised. This article was awarded the Sprudgie prize for Best Coffee Writing of 2022 by Sprudge magazine.