Dissertation Research: Social Change, Media, and Well-Being: Insights from Intergenerational Comparisons in Ecuador

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Jamie Shenton (Doctoral student, Vanderbilt University), under the guidance of Dr. Beth A. Conklin, will investigate indigenous women's changing body images in Mondaña, a Quichua community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. As a result of dramatic changes in the 21st century, political and professional horizons for indigenous women have widened promoting their empowerment. Access to a wide range of new media and commercial influences have presented new physical role models. For young Quichua women, these new forms of self-presentation compete with the more "traditional" identities of older generations of women who define themselves through domestic activities focused on producing crops, food, and children. Through intensive interviews, participant observation, and quantitative body image assessments, this research aims to document (1) how new media and consumer options influence indigenous women's relations to their bodies; and (2) how gender ideals and roles are changing as young Quichua women in Mondaña respond to opportunities for education and careers on one hand, and new models of femininity on the other.This project investigates theories of media influences and consumer culture as homogenizing forces. However, anthropological research shows that people in developing countries interpret media messages and foreign ideas to fit their own cultural values and personal identities. This study aims to understand how Quichua women interpret and pursue beauty images in cultural context. The significance of the research lies in how body image concerns compete with or complement other values and aspirations as young women - a critical source of human capital - make educational, career and ultimately health choices that will shape the future of their families and communities.