ABSTRACT
Closely tracking the formulation and implementation of global commercial initiatives, this chapter investigates the processes surrounding the repositioning of shea on the world market over the course of the 1990s and the early years of the 2000s. At this time, shea, after many decades as an unnamed ingredient in the manufacture of mass-market confections, began to occupy a new economic niche as a luxury cosmetic noted for its purity and restorative capacities. Focusing on the sometimes divergent, sometimes complementary character of the ensemble of forces contributing to shea’s movement from “mass” to “class” commodity, the chapter makes evident the inherently unstable nature of new forms of tropical commoditization. At the same time, it draws attention to the myriad ways in which state power is reconstituted and not always reduced even as markets grow in size and prominence-a process that brings order to the shea market and contributes to its contingency.
