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

格鲁吉亚大学的研究生詹姆斯·维特托在罗伯特·E.罗兹，将进行比较调查，为什么民间作物品种继续坚持下去，尽管压倒性的经济和社会压力，威胁到他们的存在。研究表明，地球仪的农业生物多样性日益丧失，各种保护战略已被用来缓解这一问题。然而，社会科学家的贡献是有限的，即使他们有能力深入调查为什么一些个人，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。这项研究将调查两个主要的互补动机，有助于继续使用和保护民间作物品种。第一个潜在的动机是实用的突出性，选择和维护本地品种的实用农艺，经济和环境的原因。第二种可能的动机是文化的突出性，即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，以及学习和分享的价值观，选择和维持作物。主要研究地点将是北卡罗来纳州西部的阿巴拉契亚山脉南部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土植物的家庭而闻名。研究人员将使用比较混合方法的方法来评估这两个地区民间作物品种和整体作物农业生物多样性持续存在的原因。一个有目的的积极种植者的样本将被选择使用一个结合的雪球抽样开始与已知的当地种植者以及数据库从当地种子银行。研究人员将使用参与者观察，半结构化访谈，自由列表练习，基准社会经济调查，主题欣赏测试练习和农场调查的组合。在民族生态学中对文化显著性的彻底调查是重要的，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得以维持和持久存在的核心力量，社会科学家就可以对有关作物遗传资源保护的国际辩论作出重大贡献。这项研究也将大大有助于研究生的教育。

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.