Shea Butter Republic

<p>Shea butter (<em>butyrospermin parkii</em>) has been produced and sold by rural West African women and circulated on the world market as a raw material for more than a century. Shea butter has been used for cooking making soap and candles leatherworking dying as a medical and beauty aid and most significantly as a substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate production. Now sold in exclusive shops as a high-priced cosmetic and medicinal product it caters to the desire of cosmopolitan customers worldwide for luxury and exotic self-indulgence. This ethnographic study traces shea from a pre- to post-industrial commodity to provide a deeper understanding of emerging trends in tropical commoditization consumption global economic restructuring and rural livelihoods. Also inlcludes seven maps.</p>