Doctoral Dissertation Research: Feeding Bogota; New and Old Retailers and the Transformation of Urban Food Provisioning in Colombia

上世纪90年代，在“结构调整”的保护伞下，保护主义政策被废除后，拉丁美洲经历了向外向型增长战略的艰难过渡。随着传统农产品出口价格的下降，拉丁美洲国家难以通过提供专业化和高附加值产品在国际市场上竞争。在国内，农业食品链的放松管制和自由化重新定义了食品消费和生产的动态。本研究将考察哥伦比亚首都和最大城市波哥大出现的这种不断变化的农业食品链。与其他拉丁美洲城市一样，这种变化的一个标志是国内和跨国超市的主导地位日益上升。然而，大型零售商在波哥大的扩张一直受到小型社区商店（“夫夫店”）持续存在的阻碍。如何解释这种持久性？本研究试图通过三个部分的论证来回答这个问题：1)自20世纪90年代初以来，哥伦比亚的农业粮食系统在国内和国际新自由主义改革的背景下进行了重组；2)外资的注入使波哥大超市的数量、规模和集中度空前扩大；3)夫妻店在这种现代化趋势的背景下继续蓬勃发展，这要么表明持久的社会和经济不平等，要么表明特定食品的特定属性。实证数据将来自档案研究和访谈。“新自由主义食品秩序”的兴起（包括超市的激增）将在1995-2005年期间使用来自政府和非政府来源的国家和城市层面的数据进行记录。更多的信息将通过采访跨国零售商的高管以及夫妻店的所有者和用户来收集，以记录对食品零售现代化趋势的看法、想法和态度。通过在国家和国际改革的更广泛背景下研究零售的新旧形式，该项目将提供新自由主义重组对拉丁美洲城市影响的具体例子。本研究将借鉴政治经济学、零售地理学和城市发展研究等理论领域，并对其作出贡献，促进地理学学科中核心问题的知识。除了其理论意义外，该项目还直接讨论了具有重要社会意义的辩论。对波哥大食品供应系统如何进行重组的研究将为国家和市政府在食品安全和零售监管方面的公共政策提供重要的证据和见解，这与哥伦比亚的情况无关。

After the dismantling of protectionist policies under the umbrella of "structural adjustment" in the 1990s, Latin America has experienced a difficult transition to an outward-oriented growth strategy. As the price of traditional agro-exports declines, Latin American countries struggle to compete in international markets by offering specialized and higher value-added products. Domestically, deregulation and liberalization of the agro-food chain has redefined the dynamics of food consumption and production. This study will examine the emergence of such the changing agro-food chain in Bogota, Colombia's capital and largest city. As in other Latin American cities, a hallmark of this change has been the rising dominance of national and transnational supermarkets. However, the expansion of mega-retailers in Bogota has been stymied by the persistence of small neighborhood ("mom-n-pop") stores. How to explain this persistence? This research seeks to answer this question through a three-part argument: 1) that since the early 1990s Colombia's agro-food system has been restructured in the context of domestic and international neoliberal reforms; 2) that injection of foreign capital has allowed for unprecedented expansion in the number, size and concentration of supermarkets in Bogota; and 3) that mom-n-pop stores continue to thrive in the context of this modernizing trend, indicating either enduring social and economic inequality or specific attributes of particular food commodities. Empirical data will come from archival research and interviews. The rise of a "neoliberal food order" (including the surge of supermarkets) will be documented for the 1995-2005 period using national and city level data from both government and non-government sources. Additional information will be collected through interviews with executives of transnational retailers as well as owners and users of mom-n-pop stores to document the perceptions, ideas and attitudes towards this modernizing trend in food retailing. By studying old and new forms of retailing within the broader context of national and international reforms, this project will provide a concrete example of the impact of neoliberal restructuring in a Latin American city. This study will draw from - and contribute to - theoretical fields such as political economy, retail geography and urban development studies, advancing the knowledge of central issues within the discipline of geography. Apart from its theoretical significance, this project speaks directly to debates of critical social importance. The study of how Bogota's food provisioning system has been restructured will provide crucial evidence and insights to inform public policy at the national and city government levels in relation to food security and retailing regulation, which have relevance beyond the Colombian case.