Banana Capital: Stories, Science, and Poison at the Equator

Health researcher and advocate Brisbois (social and preventative medicine, Univ. of Montreal Sch. of Public Health) centers his debut book on the banana, a nearly ubiquitous fruit with a complex history, behind which lies a devastating neocolonial power structure. Focusing on the region surrounding Machala, Ecuador, the self-described “banana capital” of the world, Brisbois explores the interrelated factors involved in banana production, from the fruit’s 19th-century origins to the notorious corporations that have cemented its dominance through backroom deals, enslavement, and war. Weather, pests, and disease necessitate heavy pesticide usage, with alarming negative impacts on workers and their communities. Brisbois explores how workers contend with labor practices akin to enslavement, unethical farm managers, climate change, working without personal protective equipment, COVID, racialized labor policies, political revolutions, and the lack of social mobility for laborers on banana plantations. He also interrogates the medical community’s shortcomings regarding pesticide use in the Global South, noting that studies prioritizing workers’ lived experiences are often not considered scientifically rigorous and that they usually fail to acknowledge the ramifications of past political events and economic policies on banana production.