Colonial Political Economy and the Formation of the French Wine Classification

• In Event: Political Economy of the World-System Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable Ill: Drinks, Cars, Neoliberalism, and Coloniality in the World System

Abstract

This paper examines how the historical origins of geographical indication (GI) systems endow them with a unique distributive logic, which leads programs using these tools to create divergent outcomes across different social and geographical contexts. Originally developed in France (and subsequently through the European Union), GI systems frequently link product quality to territory, and are promoted as useful instruments for protecting rural producers and economies. However, these effects are uneven when implemented outside European contexts. Many studies explained the discrepancy in policy outcomes in terms of policy design, regulatory implementation, or nationalist agendas. This paper expands on these perspectives by situating the problem historically. Specifically, it examines the emergence of the French wine classification system — an emblematic case of the GI system — and traces its development through colonial trade, labor regimes, and territorial incorporation from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. The Haitian Revolution disrupted a plantation-slavery-based imperial division of labor in which wine remained metropolitan. To restore the imperial accumulation circuit, France sought to establish Algeria as a settler colony that specialized in wine production. The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system codified these reconfigured imperial economic relations through institutionalizing a territorial hierarchy. This case shows that GI systems encode historical and material relations in which they formed, and that their effects reflect those material origins when the model is applied beyond its initial setting.

Author

• Xiaosu Tian, University of Oregon