Doctoral Dissertation Research: Agrobiodiversity, Food Security, and Food Culture in Bolivia

博士论文研究：玻利维亚的农业生物多样性、粮食安全和饮食文化

• 批准号: 1131153
• 负责人: Michael Dove
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1131153&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Agrobiodiversity; Food

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the role of crop diversity in Andean food security, using Bolivian food culture as a lens to analyze the linkages between native crops, household food consumption practices, and the broader social context. Bolivia presents a paradox common in crop centers of origin, because the country is rich in agrobiodiversity, but it exhibits the highest levels of malnutrition in South America. Genetically diverse crop varieties have evolved in conjunction with varied biophysical environments and farmers' cultural practices, but such varieties tend to be maintained in marginal agricultural areas, which are frequently sites of high food insecurity. While the existing literature offers detailed examinations of the role of environmental factors and agricultural practices in the evolution and maintenance of crop diversity, the relationship between these forces and the broader social processes driving small-scale farmers' social and economic marginalization has largely remained unanalyzed. In order to fill this gap in the literature, three empirical questions will be explored in this project: (1) What relationships exist between household culinary practices and the genetic and morphological patterning of native and traditional Andean crops? (2) How do practices, values, and selection pressures on crop diversity change as food products and people move across space? (3) How does agrobiodiversity contribute to the food security of vulnerable rural and urban populations? Data responding to these questions will be gathered through a detailed case-study of the Cochabamba region of Bolivia, relying on a combination of interviews, participant observation, and survey techniques. These data will further underpin theoretical inquiries along two lines. First, they will provide insights into the leveraging of native and traditional foods in narratives of indigeneity, modernity, and difference-making in the present-day Bolivian public sphere. Second, they will contribute to ongoing debates surrounding the ways in which the material nature of goods and the social meanings surrounding them contribute to competing conceptions of value. This project will generate basic theoretical and applied knowledge about the relationships linking agrobiodiversity to food security and food culture. Although the existence of these relationships is widely accepted, the mechanisms underpinning them have not been explored extensively. By examining agrobiodiversity and food consumption as elements of a continuous food system, this project will shed new light on the role of crop genetic resources in a wider social context. In the realms of policy and application, this research has direct relevance to the design of programs to alleviate hunger and food insecurity in Bolivia and other comparable locales. Through collaborative relationships with applied development organizations in the country, the project will generate knowledge leading to new opportunities for reinforcing locally sustainable food systems. Furthermore, this project will help to develop methodological principles for the study of agrobiodiversity and food security suitable for other world regions. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.

该博士学位论文研究项目将利用玻利维亚粮食文化作为镜头来研究农作物多样性在安第斯粮食安全中的作用，以分析当地作物，家庭食品消费实践和更广泛的社会环境之间的联系。玻利维亚在作物原产中心中表现出一个常见的悖论，因为该国富含农业生物多样性，但在南美的营养不良水平最高。 遗传上多样化的作物品种与不同的生物物理环境和农民的文化实践一起演变，但是这种品种往往在边际农业地区保持，这些地区通常是高粮食不安全的地点。尽管现有文献提供了有关环境因素和农业实践在作物多样性进化和维持中的作用的详细检查，但这些力量与驱动小型农民社会和经济边缘化的更广泛的社会过程之间的关系在很大程度上保持了静止。为了填补文献中的这一空白，将在该项目中探讨三个经验问题：（1）家庭烹饪实践与本地和传统安第斯作物的遗传和形态图案之间存在哪些关系？ （2）随着食品和人们在太空中移动时，对农作物多样性的实践，价值和选择压力如何变化？ （3）农业生物多样性如何为脆弱的农村和城市人口的粮食安全做出贡献？依靠访谈，参与者观察和调查技巧的组合，将通过对玻利维亚科恰巴巴地区的详细案例研究来收集对这些问题的数据。这些数据将进一步沿两条线进行理论查询。 首先，他们将提供有关本地和传统食品在当今玻利维亚公共领域中土著，现代性和差异的叙事中利用的洞察力。其次，他们将有助于围绕商品的物质性质以及围绕它们的社会意义的方式进行持续的辩论，这有助于竞争价值观念。该项目将产生有关将农生多样性与粮食安全和粮食文化联系起来的关系的基本理论和应用知识。尽管这些关系的存在已被广泛接受，但尚未广泛探讨这些关系的机制。通过将农业生物多样性和食品消费作为连续食品系统的要素，该项目将为农作物遗传资源在更广泛的社会背景下的作用提供新的启示。在政策和应用领域，这项研究与计划的设计直接相关，以减轻玻利维亚和其他可比地区的饥饿和粮食不安全。通过与该国应用程序开发组织的合作关系，该项目将产生知识，从而为加强当地可持续的食品系统提供新的机会。此外，该项目将有助于制定方法学原理，以研究适合其他世界地区的农业生物多样性和粮食安全。作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。