Dissertation Research: Social Change, Media, and Well-Being: Insights from Intergenerational Comparisons in Ecuador

Jamie Shenton（范德比尔特大学博士生）将在Beth a . Conklin博士的指导下，在厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的一个基丘亚人社区Mondaña调查土著妇女身体形象的变化。由于21世纪的巨大变化，土著妇女的政治和职业视野扩大了，促进了她们的赋权。接触广泛的新媒体和商业影响带来了新的身体行为模式。对于年轻的Quichua女性来说，这些新的自我表现形式与老一代女性更“传统”的身份形成了竞争，老一代女性通过专注于生产作物、食物和孩子的家庭活动来定义自己。本研究透过密集访谈、参与观察与定量身体意象评估，旨在证明(1)新媒体与消费者选择如何影响原住民女性与身体的关系；(2)性别理想和角色的变化，一方面是Mondaña的年轻Quichua女性对教育和职业机会的反应，另一方面是女性气质的新模式。这个项目研究媒体影响和消费文化作为同质化力量的理论。然而，人类学研究表明，发展中国家的人们对媒体信息和外来思想的解释符合他们自己的文化价值观和个人身份。本研究旨在了解曲华女性在文化背景下对美形象的解读与追求。这项研究的意义在于，当年轻女性（人力资本的重要来源）做出教育、职业和最终健康选择时，身体形象问题如何与其他价值观和愿望竞争或互补，这些选择将影响她们家庭和社区的未来。

Jamie Shenton (Doctoral student, Vanderbilt University), under the guidance of Dr. Beth A. Conklin, will investigate indigenous women's changing body images in Mondaña, a Quichua community in the Ecuadorian Amazon. As a result of dramatic changes in the 21st century, political and professional horizons for indigenous women have widened promoting their empowerment. Access to a wide range of new media and commercial influences have presented new physical role models. For young Quichua women, these new forms of self-presentation compete with the more "traditional" identities of older generations of women who define themselves through domestic activities focused on producing crops, food, and children. Through intensive interviews, participant observation, and quantitative body image assessments, this research aims to document (1) how new media and consumer options influence indigenous women's relations to their bodies; and (2) how gender ideals and roles are changing as young Quichua women in Mondaña respond to opportunities for education and careers on one hand, and new models of femininity on the other.This project investigates theories of media influences and consumer culture as homogenizing forces. However, anthropological research shows that people in developing countries interpret media messages and foreign ideas to fit their own cultural values and personal identities. This study aims to understand how Quichua women interpret and pursue beauty images in cultural context. The significance of the research lies in how body image concerns compete with or complement other values and aspirations as young women - a critical source of human capital - make educational, career and ultimately health choices that will shape the future of their families and communities.