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

该奖项支持的研究调查了粮食援助项目中断的原因和后果。在全球范围内，多边组织、民族国家、非政府组织和地方一级的厨房支持各种食品援助项目。这些项目的目标差别很大。有些提供谋生机会，包括直接现金或代金券转移；另一些则侧重于紧急粮食援助，甚至提高作物和加工食品的营养价值。但无论他们的目标是什么，这些项目的基础往往是不稳固的。依靠混合来源的资金和志愿者的劳动，它们经常逐渐减少或完全关闭，留下了一些问题：为什么它们首先出现，为什么它们不稳定，它们的消亡可能对家庭和社区造成什么后果。该奖项支持的研究通过对经济转型背景下的志愿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Sarah Renkert在社会文化人类学家Maribel Alvarez博士的指导下进行。研究人员在秘鲁利马附近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：以前强大的地方一级食品供应志愿系统的解体。这种特殊的食物系统是建立在公共厨房的基础上的，由女性志愿者组成，她们为食物不安全的居民提供政府补贴的热饭。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：该系统的兴起；剩下的厨房；以及这些变化对家庭幸福的影响（如果有的话）。研究者将结合社会科学方法收集数据，包括参与观察；与现任和前任志愿者、客户和支持机构进行半结构化访谈；与地方经济变迁相关的制度历史档案研究家庭食品安全调查。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。这项研究的结果将有助于市场经济中志愿服务和福利的社会理论，并对试图制定有效食品供应计划的政策制定者至关重要，包括在美国。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.