Doctoral Dissertation Research: Food Shortage Coping Strategies Among Resettlement Area Households in Zimbabwe

与非洲许多地区一样，津巴布韦正面临着农村居民应对粮食短缺能力的重要问题，这一问题与土地分配密不可分。自1980年以来，津巴布韦有5万多户家庭被重新安置在以前白人拥有的农场和牧场，主要是在半干旱到干旱的环境中。正如上次长期干旱期间所看到的那样，重新安置家庭特别容易受到经常性粮食短缺的影响。作为粮食安全的一部分，应对粮食短缺的战略取决于社会与环境之间复杂联系的相互作用。这种分析是根据区域政治生态框架进行的，该框架促进了人类和环境变量的联系，并将环境视为农村社会的一个动态和相互作用的组成部分。该项目将涉及在津巴布韦大学的教师和学生的合作下，在两个实地地点和哈拉雷进行研究。将在两个不同环境的安置区和相邻的非安置区进行比较实地工作，这些安置区将作为对照组。一份调查问卷将评估人与环境关系在食物储存应对策略中的作用。调查结果将与一年实地考察期间收集的定性信息相结合。该研究将为理解移民土地背景下的粮食短缺应对策略提供重要的新见解，并将评估区域政治生态学作为研究框架的有效性。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该项目也将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立强大的独立研究生涯。＊＊＊

9406270 CAMPBELL Zimbabwe, like many parts of Africa, is facing important questions regarding the ability of rural residents to cope with food deficits, an issue that is inextricably connected to land distribution. Since 1980, over 50,000 households in Zimbabwe have been resettled in formerly white-owned farms and ranches, mainly in semi-arid to arid environments. As witnessed during the last prolonged drought period, resettlement households are particularly vulnerable to recurrent food shortages. Food shortage coping strategies, as part of food security, are dependent upon the interplay of complex linkages between society and environment. This analysis is based on a regional political ecology framework that facilitates the linkage of human and environmental variables and views the environment as a dynamic and interactive component of rural societies. This project will involve research in two field sites and in Harare with collaboration of faculty and students at the University of Zimbabwe. Comparative field work will be conducted in two resettlement areas in differing environments, and in adjacent non- resettlement areas, which will serve as control groups. A survey questionnaire will assess the role of human-environment relationships in food storage coping strategies. Survey results will be combined with qualitative information gathered during one year of field residence. This study will contribute important new insights into the understanding of food shortage coping strategies in the context of resettlement lands and it will assess the efficacy of regional political ecology as a research framework. 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. ***