Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variable Spatial and Temporal Strategies for Livestock Management

本博士论文研究项目将侧重于妇女在畜牧业牛群管理战略中的作用。 尽管畜牧业遍布全球，而且世界上6亿贫穷的畜牧者中有三分之二是妇女，但人们对妇女如何为畜牧业管理作出贡献知之甚少。 虽然人们对男性牧民管理投入（牲畜可获得的草料）和支出（为获得草料而需要移动的距离）的方式了解很多，但对产出（产奶量）和投资（奶牛、小牛和人类生计的未来能量储存）的管理方式却知之甚少。 本博士论文研究项目将侧重于牛奶生产和管理策略，以揭示妇女的不同社会空间和环境知识影响家庭内的牛奶生产策略的方式。 研究在肯尼亚南部的一个地区，博士生将采用混合的方法，包括在焦点家庭，半结构化访谈和焦点小组收集的民族志和生理数据，以评估牲畜管理策略如何因性别而异，以及妇女如何决定产出和投资塑造牲畜管理策略。 需要审查的战略包括家庭内部和家庭之间的谈判，根据预期或不确定的干旱情况，在本季节提前或晚些时候给小牛断奶，确保有关节压力或疾病迹象的牛得到适当休息，并确保小牛和人每天都能获得足够的牛奶。该项目将通过整合政治生态学、女权主义和性别研究以及环境生理学的理论和观点，分析人类与动物在异质旱地环境中的关系，加强关于性别与发展以及人类与环境关系的基础研究。 该项目将产生有关挤奶前和挤奶后策略、牛奶产量和质量评分、动物健康指数和动物行为观察的定性和定量报告，以便更好地了解牲畜管理实践的性别性质。 该项目将产生关于牛群管理实践如何与牲畜福祉和维护相关的新信息和见解，特别是考虑到牛奶对牧区粮食安全的营养，经济和社会意义。 这项研究将有助于政策的制定，因为它将加强对畜牧业发展工作的现有分析，这些工作往往更侧重于放牧和放牧模式，而不是挤奶过程。 预期社会效益将包括新知识，这些新知识有助于在世界上维持和扩大粮食供应对人类健康和福利至关重要的地区提高粮食生产。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该项目还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on the role of women in pastoral herd management strategies. Despite the global scope of pastoralism and the fact that two-thirds of the world's 600 million poor livestock keepers are women, little is known about how women contribute to livestock management. While much is known about the ways in which male herders manage inputs (forage available to livestock) and expenditures (distance required to move to access that forage), there is little information on the ways that output (milk yields) and investment (future energy stores for cows, their calves, and for human sustenance) are managed. This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on milk production and management strategies to reveal the ways in which women's diverse socio-spatial and environmental knowledge affect herd-production strategies within the household. Studying a region in southern Kenya, the doctoral student will employ mixed methods, including ethnographic and physiological data collected in focal households, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups to assess how livestock management strategies vary by gender and how decisions by women regarding output and investment shape livestock management strategies. Strategies to be examined include intra- and inter-household negotiations to wean calves earlier or later in the season depending on anticipated or uncertain drought, ensuring that proper rest for cattle showing signs of joint stress or disease, and ensuring that both young calves and humans have access to adequate amounts of milk on a daily basis. This project will enhance basic research about gender and development and human-environment relations by integrating theories and perspectives from political ecology, feminist and gender studies, and environmental physiology to analyze the relationships between humans and animals in heterogeneous dryland environments. The project will yield qualitative and quantitative reports about pre-and post-milking strategies, milk yield and quality scores, animal health indices, and animal behavioral observations in order to better understand the gendered nature of livestock management practices. This project will produce new information and insights regarding how herd management practices are related to livestock well-being and maintenance, particularly given the nutritional, economic, and social significance of milk for food security in pastoral communities. The research will contribute to policy development by enhancing existing analyses of livestock-based development efforts that tend to focus more on herding and grazing patterns rather than milking processes. Societal benefits are expected to include new knowledge that facilitates enhanced food production in parts of the world where maintenance and expansion of food supplies are critical for human health and welfare. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will also provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.