Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Economy of Child Labor in the Acai Commodity Chain

博士论文研究：巴西莓商品链中的童工经济

• 批准号: 1155734
• 负责人: Beth Conklin
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155734&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economy; Child

Vanderbilt University doctoral candidate Monte D. Hendrickson, supervised by Dr. Beth A. Conklin, will conduct research addressing the cultural criteria of children's roles in producing export commodities, a subject that has received little anthropological attention. Hendrickson's study focuses specifically on acai production in the lower Amazon region of Brazil and investigates children's roles in the production of this commodity, which is marketed as an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible product that enhances the livelihoods of the rural poor. This research seeks to understand how the moral and economic processes involved in a global commodity boom affect the lives of children and the cultural politics of childhood in poor families at the production end of an export-commodity chain. To evaluate these complex links between acai and children's wellbeing, research will be conducted in two rural communities, Gurupa and Curralinho, in the state of Para. Research will involve multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative data to yield insights into local concepts, understandings, and perspectives on decision-making concerning children's health, education, and labor, and children's contributions to acai production. Statistical data from official records and findings from household surveys will be complemented and contextualized by ethnographic participant-observation, open-ended interviewing, semi-structured and structured interviews, participatory photo interviews with children, and life histories collected in each community. This research is significant in that it contributes to an under-theorized dimension of human rights concerns: the question of the moral and ethical evaluation of children's labor activities in family/household contexts. This investigation will produce a rich case study of work conditions, effects on income, education, and health, and attitudes toward children and childhood in these rural Amazonian communities. The dissertation based on this field study will juxtapose this local case study against discourses at the regional and international levels concerning the benefits of acai, fair trade, rural household production, and child labor.

范德比尔特大学博士候选人蒙特D。Hendrickson，由Beth A.康克林将进行研究，解决儿童在生产出口商品中的作用的文化标准，这是一个很少受到人类学关注的问题。 Hendrickson的研究特别关注巴西亚马逊河下游地区的阿萨伊生产，并调查了儿童在这种商品生产中的作用，这种商品作为一种环境可持续和对社会负责的产品销售，可以改善农村穷人的生计。 本研究旨在了解全球商品繁荣所涉及的道德和经济过程如何影响儿童的生活以及出口商品链生产端贫困家庭儿童的文化政治。 为了评估这些阿萨伊和儿童的福祉之间的复杂联系，研究将在两个农村社区进行，古鲁帕和Curralinho，在Para. Research状态将涉及定性和定量数据的多个来源，以深入了解当地的概念，理解，以及有关儿童健康，教育和劳动决策的观点，以及儿童对阿萨伊生产的贡献。 官方记录的统计数据和家庭调查的结果将通过人种志参与观察、开放式访谈、半结构化和结构化访谈、参与式儿童照片访谈以及在每个社区收集的生活史加以补充和背景化。这项研究是重要的，因为它有助于人权问题的一个理论层面：在家庭/家庭环境中的儿童劳动活动的道德和伦理评价的问题。 这项调查将产生一个丰富的案例研究的工作条件，对收入，教育和健康的影响，以及对儿童和童年在这些农村亚马逊社区的态度。 本论文基于这一领域的研究将并列本本地案例研究对话语在区域和国际层面上的利益，阿萨伊，公平贸易，农村家庭生产，童工。