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About the Project

My dissertation examines the history of the cut flower industry in the U.S. and Colombia from the 1910s to today. The global cut flower industry is currently worth over $34 billion, and the United States represents the largest importer of cut flowers in the world. Of these, almost 70 percent come from Colombia. There, they are grown and packaged, primarily by women, and shipped via airplane to Miami for distribution throughout the United States. My project analyzes how this hemispheric trade in delicate flowers came to be and the impact increased cut flower production had on the Colombian agricultural economy, the lives of industry workers, and consumption and production in the United States. Among agricultural commodities, cut flowers stand out for a variety of reasons, namely their extreme perishability – withering mere days after they are cut – and their cultural power as symbols of love and admiration. It is this combination of ephemerality and cultural power that makes cut flowers the culmination of global capitalisms’ drive to push commodity production farther, faster, and cheaper. A task made possible through both a consumption and production shaped by capitalism’s interactions with gender stereotypes.

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The title of my project, "The Flowers of El Dorado," comes from two things. First, one of the pioneers of the Colombian cut flower industry, Edgar Wells Castillo, once described the cut flower industry with, "Finally, we have found our El Dorado...a source of wealth for all Colombians for all time." In this quote, Wells Castillo links the cut flower industry with the mythical city of gold, rumored to be located within Colombia. When I found this quote, I thought it perfectly encapsulated the hopes and dreams that boosters of Colombian exports had in the cut flower industry. Soon after, I learned that the airport in Bogotá, from which most flowers are shipped out of the country, is likewise named the Bogotá El Dorado International Airport. The coincidence was too perfect and thus the title was born.

About Me

My name is Kaitlin Simpson

I am a fifth year PhD Candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I have always loved flowers and was quite surprised myself to learn that these fleeting flowers travel so far in their short lives. The more I researched the topic the more I became fascinated with the history and inner-workings of the cut flower industry! So, I am very excited to be taking on this dissertation project and to be sharing my ideas and findings with you!

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Beyond flowers, my research interests include the history of the United States in a global context, with a specific focus on the U.S. and Latin America during the 20th century. I have also done research on the U.S. and France during the American Civil War and U.S. and India during the Cold War.

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