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

本博士论文研究项目将聚焦于妇女在牧群管理策略中的作用。尽管畜牧业在全球范围内存在，而且世界上6亿贫穷的牲畜饲养者中有三分之二是妇女，但人们对妇女如何为牲畜管理作出贡献知之甚少。虽然男性牧民管理投入(牲畜可获得的饲料)和支出(获得饲料所需的距离)的方式知道得很多，但关于产出(产奶量)和投资(未来奶牛、牛犊和人类赖以生存的能量储存)的管理方式的信息很少。这一博士论文研究项目将侧重于牛奶生产和管理战略，以揭示妇女不同的社会空间和环境知识如何影响家庭内的畜群生产战略。这位博士生研究肯尼亚南部的一个地区，将使用混合方法，包括在重点家庭、半结构化访谈和焦点小组中收集的人种学和生理数据，以评估牲畜管理战略如何因性别而异，以及妇女关于产出和投资的决定如何影响牲畜管理战略。将审查的战略包括家庭内部和家庭间的谈判，根据预期或不确定的干旱，在季节的早些时候或晚些时候断奶小牛犊，确保表现出联合应激或疾病迹象的牛得到适当的休息，以及确保小牛犊和人类每天都能获得足够数量的牛奶。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视角来加强关于性别与发展和人与环境关系的基础研究，以分析异质干旱环境中人与动物的关系。该项目将产生关于挤奶前和挤奶后战略、牛奶产量和质量分数、动物健康指数和动物行为观察的定性和定量报告，以更好地了解牲畜管理做法的性别性质。该项目将产生关于牛群管理做法如何与牲畜的健康和维护有关的新信息和见解，特别是考虑到牛奶对牧区社区食品安全的营养、经济和社会意义。这项研究将通过加强对畜牧业发展努力的现有分析来促进政策制定，这些分析往往更侧重于放牧和放牧模式，而不是挤奶过程。预计社会效益将包括促进世界某些地区粮食生产的新知识，在这些地区，维持和扩大粮食供应对人类健康和福利至关重要。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研究事业。

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.