Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social and Political-Economic Dynamics of Foodways in Peri-Urban Honduras

肯塔基州大学博士候选人Aeleka Schortman在Sarah里昂博士的指导下，将从事发展中国家粮食系统当代转型的研究。世界各地正在发生的农业转型的特点是从当地生产转向依赖粮食进口和工业化。因此，粮食供应现在较少依赖于小规模和仅能维持生计的生产。Schortman将调查这些变化对个人、家庭和社区动态的影响。这项研究将在洪都拉斯北方的一个城郊工业化城镇Petoa进行。城市周边地区，或大城市中心周围的卫星城镇，是农业和食物方式变化的关键地点，因为它们是城乡混合生计和土地使用模式的所在地。尽管如此，城市周边的中心仍然在食物研究中调查不足，这些研究往往侧重于农村或城市的食物使用和生产模式。Schortman将收集人们生产、购买和消费哪些食物的数据;他们对这些食物和生产系统的理解;食物供应充足性;家庭历史;以及家庭社会经济特征。她将使用民族志研究方法的混合，包括半访谈和非正式访谈，焦点小组，家庭案例研究，以及直接和参与观察。这项研究是独一无二的，汇集了社会，象征性，政治和经济层面的饮食方式的变化。它将有助于对发展中国家的农业转型、城市化和工业化以及城市周边地区的食物方式变化的实践和理论理解。支持这项研究也支持社会科学家的教育。

University of Kentucky doctoral candidate Aeleka Schortman, under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Lyon, will undertake research on the contemporary transformation of food systems in developing countries. The agrarian transition, which is occurring throughout the world, is characterizied by movement away from local production and towards food-import dependence and industrialization. As a result, food provisioning is now less reliant on small-scale and subsistence production. Schortman will investigate the implications of these changes for individual, household, and community dynamics.The research will be carried out in Petoa, a peri-urban, industrializing town in northern Honduras. Peri-urban areas, or satellite towns surrounding large urban centers, are key sites of agricultural and foodway change, as they are home to mixed rural and urban livelihoods and land use patterns. Nonetheless, peri-urban centers remain under-investigated in studies of foodways, which tend to focus on either rural or urban food use and production patterns. Schortman will collect data on which foods people produce, purchase, and consume; the meanings they attach to these foods and production systems; food provisioning adequacy; household histories; and household socioeconomic characteristics. She will use a mix of ethnographic research methods, including semi-interviews and informal interviews, focus groups, household case studies, and both direct and participant observation. This research is unique in bringing together social, symbolic, political, and economic dimensions of foodways changes. It will contribute to practical and theoretical understandings of the agrarian transition in developing nations, urbanization and industrialization, and foodway change in a peri-urban locale. Supporting this research also supports the education of a social scientist.