Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food security interventions in the food system

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This project examines shifting discourse and practice in development food security efforts. Specifically, this study examines local food security programs that share commonalities with social movements for food sovereignty. This study asks what role development programs play in both challenging and maintaining the current food system. By providing a detailed account of food security programs and their effects, this study will add a deeper understanding of the way that food security efforts unfold in practice, their unintended results and opportunities to intersect with more transformative projects. By evaluating the possibility of development institutions to be involved in efforts to attain food sovereignty, it will be of interest to decision makers and development professionals. Findings from this project will inform future directions of food security efforts in food insecure regions.During five months of field work, interviews and ethnographic observation will be conducted with development agency program officers, non-governmental organization field staff, food program participants, and food sovereignty advocates. Eighty interviews will be conducted in total. Data will be analyzed using an iterative process to understand the landscape of food sovereignty and food security interventions, the origins of atypical food security programs, and the effects these programs have in practice. Findings will shed light on the changing landscape of food security decisions and how these changes can be understood within the broader food system.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.