Carla Martin (anthropologist)

{{Short description|American anthropologist}}

Carla Martin is an American anthropologist.{{Sfnp|Carr|2020}} Martin is a lecturer in African and African American studies at Harvard University.{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} Martin's main area of study is chocolate and cocoa production.

Martin was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}} and earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Harvard.{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} After college, Martin taught English in Cape Verda for three years,{{Sfnp|Dugan|2019|p=27}}{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} there, she learnt about how the Portuguese government there had conscripted Cape Verdeans into indentured labor on cacao and sugar plantations until the 1960s.{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}}{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} It was from this experience that Martin has said she gained her interest in chocolate production.{{Sfnp|Dugan|2019|p=27}} In 2012, Martin completed her doctorate in African and African American Studies at Harvard.{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} The following year, she taught the class "Chocolate Culture and the Politics of Food" at Harvard for the first time.{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} In 2015, Martin founded the nonprofit Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (FCCI).{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}} The FCCI researches and disseminates information about flavor cocoa to consumers and cacao farmers and laborers{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}}{{Sfnp|Carr|2020}} and aims to make the chocolate supply chain more equitable.{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}} As of 2019, the FCCI ran the New England Chocolate Festival.{{Sfnp|Dugan|2019|p=27}}

As of 2024, Martin still teaches the class Chocolate Culture.{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}}{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} The class covers chocolate tasting, the history of chocolate and other food commodities and how they relate to current cocoa production and race.{{Sfnp|Carr|2020}} The class has received some attention from white supremacists.{{Sfnp|Gibson|2024}} Martin's work through Harvard and the FCCI uses chocolate as an opening for discussions around labor, human rights and politics.{{Sfnp|Friel|2018}}