Sarah Lyon | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Sarah Lyon

Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement and Strategic Initiatives

Professor

Director, U.S. Culture and Business Practices

My work is situated at the juncture of development studies, economic anthropology and food studies. I am particularly interested in how alternative food networks such as fair trade work to create and sustain diverse economies in the United States and Latin America.

Contact Information

sarah.lyon@uky.edu

257 Patterson Office Tower

859 257-5038

859-539-1296

Education

Ph.D. Emory University
B.A. Smith College

Research Interests

economic anthropology
business and organizational anthropology
Latin America
gender and development
agri-food systems

Affiliations

Anthropology
Gender and Women's Studies
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies
U.S. Culture and Business Practices

Research

My current research explores how changing labor practices, economic relations, and discourses surrounding marketable coffee qualities (e.g., organic, fairtrade) within global value chains affect cooperatives and communities. Specifically, we are investigating how these changing practices shape the gendered conditions of women's coffee production in Oaxaca, Mexico and struggles for gender equity across the value chain.

I also continue to investigate the nature of producer and consumer relations in certified commodity networks and the impact of fair trade and other consumption based development initiatives among agricultural smallholders in Mexico and Central America. Fair trade is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency, and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers. Minimum prices and social premiums linked to fair trade certifications, which require independent audit of the environmental, economic, and social conditions of commodity production and exchange, are integral to the system.

Courses Taught

ANT 101: Introduction to Anthropology
ANT 245: Food, Culture, and Society
ANT 301: History of Anthropological Thought
ANT 311: Anthropological Perspectives on Globalization
ANT 324: Contemporary Cultures of Latin America
ANT 338: Economic Anthropology
ANT 352: Business, Culture, and Society
ANT 352: Anthropology of Tourism
ANT 480: Business and Organizational Cultures
ANT 582: Public Anthropology - Senior Seminar
ANT 601: Contemporary Theory
ANT 610: History of Anthropological Theory
ANT 680: Business and Organizational Cultures
ANT 734: Economic Anthropology
ANT 770: Globalization
ANT 770: Culture and Power in Latin America

Selected Publications

Selected Publications:

BOOKS

2012 Lyon, S. and E.C. Wells, eds. Global Tourism: Cultural Heritage and Economic Encounters. New York: Alta Mira Press.
2011 Coffee and Community: Maya Farmers and Fair Trade Markets . Boulder: University Press of Colorado. [Winner of the Society for Economic Anthropology's Book Prize]
2010 Lyon, S. and M. Moberg, eds. Fair Trade and Social Justice: Global Ethnographies. New York: New York University Press.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

2024 Lyon, S., T. Mutersbaugh, and H. Worthen. Gendered Dimensions of Labor and Living Incomes Among Coffee Farmers in Southern Mexico. Die Eide: Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin. 154(3).
2022 Lyon, S. Rethinking Fair Trade: Narratives and Counter Narratives of Poverty and Partnerships. Research in Economic Anthropology 41:187-215.
2021 Flynn, M., Eggerth, E., Jacobston, J., and Lyon, S. Heart Attacks, Bloody Noses, and Other “Emotional Problems”: Cultural and Conceptual Issues with the Spanish Translation of Self-Report Emotional Health Items. Family and Community Health 44(1): 1-9.
2020 Lyon, S. Assembling Fair Trade: Power and Performativity in the Global Economy. Collaborative Anthropologies 12(1-2): 24-49.
2019 Lyon, S. Business Anthropology's Lens into Gender Equity: Assessing the Impact of 'Smart Economics' in the Coffee Sector. International Journal of Business Anthropology 9(2): 33-50.
2019 Lyon, S., T. Mutersbaugh, and H. Worthen. Constructing the Female Coffee Farmer: Do Corporate Smart Economic Initiatives Promote Gender Equity within Agricultural Value Chains? Economic Anthropology 6(1).
2018 Lyon, S. Coping with Coffee Rust in Oaxaca, Mexico: Vulnerability and The Impact of Fair Trade on Smallholders' Adaptive Capacity. Research in Economic Anthropology 38:79-101.
2018 Lyon, S. The Work of Anthropology Reconsidered: Career Diversity and the Future of Doctoral Education. Anthropology of Work Review 39(1):26-39.
2016 Lyon, S., T. Mutersbaugh, and H. Worthen. The Triple Burden: The Impact of Time Poverty on Women's Participation in Coffee Producer Organizational Governance in Mexico. Agriculture and Human Values.

BOOK CHAPTERS

2021 Lyon, S. Anthropological Perspectives on Fair Trade. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Published online October 29, 2021.
2021 Lyon, S. Fair Trade's Impact on Smallholders. Handbook on the Human Impact of Agriculture. James, Harvey S. Jr., ed. Pp. 194-217. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.
2021 Lyon, S. Business Anthropology. In Sage Handbook of Cultural Anthropology. Pedersen, Lene and Lisa Cliggett, eds. Pp. 364-382. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
2018 Lyon, S. Digital Connections: Coffee, Agency, and Unequal Platforms. In Digital Food Activism. Schneider, Tanja, et al., eds. Pp. 70-88. New York: Routledge.
2017 Lyon, S. Economics. In Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology. Brown, Nina, et al, eds. Pp. 1-27. Wasington DC: American Anthropological Association.