Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Refugee Food Security in Ghana

美国大学博士生米卡·特拉普将在多洛雷斯·B·克尼格博士的指导下，在加纳的布杜布拉姆利比里亚难民安置点进行粮食安全研究。她的调查重点将是长期难民营情况下粮食安全与社会经济分化之间的关系。通常，人们要么假设难民营中的所有难民都有平等的机会获得食物资源，要么假设如果存在不平等，那是因为一些人有更多的钱，可以买到食物，而另一些人则不能。然而，其他因素，包括人道主义援助项目、人员、现金和食品的国际流动，以及难民和当地居民之间的关系，往往使这一简单的情况变得复杂。这项研究旨在了解这些因素是如何结合在一起产生食品安全变异性和社会经济差异的，研究人员将采用混合方法。在研究的第一阶段，她将使用人种学研究方法，包括半结构化访谈和参与者观察，以收集定性数据。在第二阶段，她将使用美国农业部粮食安全措施的改编版本进行一项调查，以衡量粮食安全。这些数据将使TRapp能够(1)检查复杂紧急情况下社会经济地位的发展；(2)评估难民营粮食安全的可变性；以及(3)调查社会经济地位、亲属和非亲属社会网络和汇款与粮食安全之间的关系。这项研究是在全球经济危机和粮食危机期间进行的，重点是难民获得食物的机会，难民是一个特别脆弱的人口。30年前，粮食短缺导致了利比里亚的内战，就像在其他国家一样。因此，这项研究不仅有助于更好地了解造成粮食不安全的复杂因素，而且还有助于查明冲突的根源。加纳的利比里亚难民营只是世界各地数百个旷日持久的难民营中的一个例子。该项目产生的分析模型可用于了解其他长期难民人口的粮食系统和自给自足战略。这项研究还将有助于社会科学关于全球因素的局部结果的理论，并有助于社会科学家的教育。

American University doctoral student, Micah Trapp, under the guidance of Dr. Dolores B. Koenig, will conduct research on food security at the Buduburam Liberian Refugee Settlement in Ghana. The focus of her investigation will be the relationship between food security and socioeconomic differentiation within a prolonged refugee camp situation. Usually, it is assumed either that all refugees in a camp setting will have equal access to food resources, or that if there is inequality, it is because some people have more money and can buy food while others cannot. However, other factors, including humanitarian aid projects, international flows of people, cash, and food, and relationships between refugees and local residents, often complicate this simple picture. This research is designed to understand how these factors come together to produce food security variability and socioeconomic differentiation The researcher will employ a mixed methods approach. During the first stage of research, she will use ethnographic research methods, including semi-structured interviews and participant-observation, to gather qualitative data. In the second stage, she will conduct a survey tp measure food security using an adapted version of the United States Department of Agriculture Food Security Measure. These data will allow Trapp to (1) examine the development of socioeconomic status in a complex emergency situation; (2) evaluate the variability of food security at the camp; and (3) investigate the relationships between socioeconomic status, kin and non-kin social networks and remittances, and food security. Conducted during a time of global economic and food crisis, this research focuses on access to food for refugees, an especially vulnerable population. Thirty years ago, food shortages contributed to civil war in Liberia, as they have in other countries. The research therefore will contribute not only to better understanding of the complex factors that produce food insecurity, but also to identifying root cause of conflict. The Liberian refugee camp in Ghana is but one example of hundreds of protracted refugee camps around the world. The an analytical model produced in this project can be used to understand food systems and strategies for self-sufficiency in other long-term refugee populations. The research also will contribute to social scientific theory of the local outcomes of global factors, and to the education of a social scientist.