Sarah Lyon | University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences

Sarah Lyon

Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement and International Relations

Professor of Anthropology

Director of U.S. Culture and Business Practices Major

My research in business and economic anthropology examines how culture and political economy shape the ways smallholder farmers, consumers, and industry stakeholders engage in global value chains, particularly within the coffee and fair trade sectors. Through ethnographic research in Latin America and the United States, I explore how agricultural practices, sustainability efforts, and corporate responsibility initiatives are experienced and negotiated on the ground. I pay close attention to how local actors navigate questions of equity, labor, and identity within transnational markets.

Contact Information

sarah.lyon@uky.edu

253 Patterson Office Tower

859 257-5038

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
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

Introduction to Anthropology
Food, Culture, and Society
Anthropological Perspectives on Globalization
Contemporary Cultures of Latin America
Economic Anthropology
Business, Culture, and Society
Anthropology of Tourism
Business and Organizational Cultures
Public Anthropology
Contemporary Theory
History of Anthropological Theory

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).
2024 Worthen, H., T. Mutersbaugh, and S. Lyon. Beyond the Commodity: Gendered Socionatures, Value, and Commoning in Mexican Coffee Plots: Gender, Place, and Culture 32(5): 702-726.
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.