Doctoral Dissertation Research: Economy, Culture, and Community Food Aid

这项由该奖项支持的研究调查了食品援助计划中断的原因和后果。在全球范围内，多边组织、民族国家、非政府组织和地方厨房支持各种粮食援助计划。这些项目的目标大相径庭。一些提供生计机会，包括直接现金或代金券转账；另一些侧重于紧急粮食援助，甚至提高农作物和加工食品的营养价值。但无论他们的目标是什么，这类项目的基础往往都不稳固。依靠混合来源的资金和志愿者劳动力，它们经常逐渐减少或完全关闭，留下了一些问题，比如它们最初为什么会出现，为什么它们不稳定，它们的消亡可能会给家庭和社区带来什么后果。这项由该奖项支持的研究通过对经济转型背景下的志愿者膳食供应机构网络的深入研究来解决这些问题。这项研究将由亚利桑那大学人类学博士生萨拉·伦克特进行，社会文化人类学家玛丽贝尔·阿尔瓦雷斯博士将指导这项研究。这位研究人员在秘鲁利马的一个社区找到了一个适合该项目的地点，因为它经历了需要调查的那种变化：一个以前强大的地方一级粮食供应志愿者系统的解体。这种特殊的食物系统建立在公共厨房的基础上，工作人员是女性志愿者，她们为食物缺乏保障的居民提供政府补贴的热餐。近年来，这些厨房一直在关闭，因此研究人员有机会研究整个周期：系统的崛起；剩余的厨房；以及变化对家庭福祉的影响(如果有的话)。研究人员将结合社会科学方法收集数据，包括参与者观察；对现任和前任志愿者、客户和支持机构的半结构化访谈；关于该系统与当地经济变化相关的历史的档案研究；以及家庭食品安全调查。这些数据将记录该系统的兴起和发展，从社区层面的粮食援助计划到个人家庭自给自足的转变，以及这些变化的影响。这项研究的发现将有助于市场经济中的志愿精神和福利的社会理论，并对试图制定有效的食品供应计划的政策制定者至关重要，包括在美国。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The research supported by this award investigates the causes and consequences of interruptions in food assistance programs. Globally, multilateral organizations, nation states, non-governmental organizations, and local-level kitchens support a variety of food assistance programs. The goals of these programs vary widely. Some provide livelihood opportunities, including direct cash or voucher transfers; others focus on emergency food aid or even enhancing the nutritional value of crops and processed foods. But whatever their goals, the foundations of such program are often shaky. Dependent on mixed-source funding and volunteer labor, they frequently taper off or close completely, leaving behind questions about why they arose in the first place, why they are unstable, and what the consequences of their demise might be for households and communities. The research supported by this award addresses these questions through the lens of intensive study of a network of volunteer meal provisioning establishments in a context of economic shift.The research will be carried out by University of Arizona anthropology doctoral student Sarah Renkert, with supervision from sociocultural anthropologist, Dr. Maribel Alvarez. The researcher has located a site in a neighborhood of Lima, Peru, appropriate for the project because it has experienced exactly the sort of change that needs investigation: the unwinding of a formerly robust volunteer system of local-level food provisioning. This particular food system was based on communal kitchens, staffed by female volunteers who provided a government-subsidized hot meal to food insecure residents. These kitchens have been closing in recent years so the researcher has the opportunity to study the entire cycle: the system's rise; the kitchens that remain; and the effects, if any, of the changes on household wellbeing. The researcher will collect data with a combination of social science methods including participant observation; semi-structured interviews with current and former volunteers, clients, and supporting institutions; archival research on the system's history in relation to shifts in the local economy; and a household food security survey. These data will document the system's rise and development, the shift from community-level food aid programs to individual household self-provisioning, and the effects of these changes. Findings from this research will contribute to social theories of volunteerism and welfare in market-based economies, and be critical for policy makers attempting to develop effective programs for food provisioning, including in the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.