Caffeinated Memories: The Creation of Historical Narratives as Public Goods in the Colombian Coffee Industry
Description
In this article, we study the process by which an organisation with disproportionate influence in the economy of a country creates a historical narrative about itself as a way of legitimising this influence. The creation and use of historical narratives with this aim are classified as ‘rhetorical strategies’, in which an organisation uses its own interpretation of history to ‘coun- teract radical change or to promote evolutionary or path-dependent change’ (Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005, p. 52). For an organisation with a degree of influence such that it has an enduring say in shaping the wider political and economic environment, it is safe to assume that the strategies that that organisation will develop (rhetorical or otherwise) will steer towards the defense of the status quo. We focus here on the type of rhetorical strategy developed by an organisation with these characteristics. This strategy consists of the devel- opment of a historical narrative that equates the history of the organisation with the history of the nation-state and, as a result, the fate of the organisation with the fate of the nation- state. We maintain that this type of strategy turns the narrative created by the organisation into a ‘public good’ (Samuelson, 1954) in the sense that once the narrative has been created it can be appropriated (and re-shaped) by anyone who can legitimately claim to belong to the nation-state.