God, Robin Hood, and the Uber Woman: Fair Trade Narratives in Christian Publications

Abstract

Since its origins as a grassroots movement in the 1960s, the fair trade movement has found a consistent, reliable base of support from various Christian churches, ministries, and organizations. This article reviews coverage of fair trade in several of the most prominent, U.S.-based Christian publications between 2006 and 2016 to identify the distinct ways in which Christian themes and language are interpolated within broader framings of fair trade. In particular, it addresses certain tensions between Christian concepts like "global missions" and "evangelism" in relation to a market-driven framing of fair trade as a Robin Hood-like means of redistributing income from the consuming [global] North to producers in the South. The article also describes the unique role of gender throughout the coverage in these publications. Finally, it explains how a particularly pro-capitalist Protestant formulation described as "Calvinist social piety" informs the ways in which Christian publications frame fair trade.