Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Seeds of Persistence: The Ethnoecology of Crop Agrobiodiversity Maintenance in the American Mountain South

乔治亚大学的研究生James Veteto将在Robert E. Rhoades博士的指导下进行一项比较调查，研究为什么尽管巨大的经济和社会压力威胁着民间作物品种的生存，但它们仍能继续存在。研究表明，全球农业生物多样性的丧失日益严重，各种保护策略已被应用于缓解这一问题。然而，社会科学家的贡献是有限的，尽管他们有能力深入调查一些个人、社区或文化继续培育民间作物生物多样性的原因。这项研究将有助于填补这一空白。本研究将探讨促进民间作物品种继续利用和保护的两个主要互补动机。第一个潜在动机是功利主义的显著性，即出于实际的农艺、经济和环境原因选择和维护本土品种。第二个可能的动机是文化突出性，由于文化上确定的偏好和影响，如遗产和记忆、烹饪传统、精神信仰和仪式以及学习和共享的价值观，对作物进行选择和维护。主要的研究地点将是北卡罗来纳州西部的南部阿巴拉契亚山脉和阿肯色州的奥扎克-夸奇塔高地。这两个地区都以拥有多种本地植物的家庭而闻名。该研究人员将使用一种比较混合方法来评估这两个地区民间作物品种和总体作物农业生物多样性持续存在的原因。将采用滚雪球抽样的组合，从已知的当地种植者开始，并从当地种子库的数据库中选择积极种植者的有目的样本。研究人员将采用参与者观察、半结构化访谈、免费清单练习、基准社会经济调查、主题欣赏测试练习和农场调查相结合的方法。对民族生态学中文化显著性的深入研究是很重要的，因为它将为文化的认知和行为方面之间的联系提供新的见解。如果文化显著性确实是民间作物品种维持和延续的核心力量，那么社会科学家可以对有关作物遗传资源保护的国际辩论作出重大贡献。这项研究也将对研究生的教育做出重大贡献。

University of Georgia graduate student, James Veteto, working under the supervision of Dr. Robert E. Rhoades, will undertake a comparative investigation of why folk crop varieties continue to persist despite overwhelming economic and social pressures that threaten their existence. Research has demonstrated the increasing loss of agricultural biodiversity across the globe and various conservation strategies have been applied to alleviate this problem. However, the contribution of social scientists has been limited, even though they are well-positioned to make in-depth inquiries into the reasons why some individuals, communities, or cultures continue to nurture folk crop biodiversity. This study will help to fill that gap.This study will investigate two main complementary motivations that contribute to the continued use and conservation of folk crop varieties. The first potential motivation is utilitarian salience, the selection and maintenance of indigenous varieties for practical agronomic, economic, and environmental reasons. The second possible motivation is cultural salience, selection and maintenance of crops because of culturally defined preferences and influences such as heritage and memory, culinary traditions, spiritual beliefs and rituals, and values that are learned and shared. The primary research sites will be the southern Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina and the Ozark-Quachita Highlands of Arkansas. Both areas are known for having households that maintain a diverse set of indigenous plants.The researcher will use a comparative mixed-methods approach to assess the reasons for the persistence of folk crop varieties and overall crop agrobiodiversity in the two regions. A purposive sample of active growers will be selected using a combination of snowball sampling beginning with known local growers as well as databases from local seed banks. The researcher will use a combination of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, free listing exercises, benchmark socioeconomic surveys, Thematic Appreciation Test exercises, and farm surveys. This thorough investigation of cultural salience in ethnoecology is important because it will provide new insights into linkages between the cognitive and behavioral aspects of culture. If indeed cultural salience is a central force behind the maintenance and persistence of folk crop varieties, social scientists can make a significant contribution to the international debate regarding the conservation of crop genetic resources. The research also will contribute significantly to the education of a graduate student.