Doctoral Dissertation Research: Corporate Contributions to Childhood Public Health Outcomes

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。营养不良和其他压力因素已被证明会阻碍儿童的生长发育。反过来，发育迟缓与大脑发育迟缓、学习能力下降、学习成绩差以及长期职业前景下降有关。在成长和发展受到损害的环境中，公司可能会慈善地提供资源，以帮助受影响的儿童群体。这个博士论文项目检查的动机和私营公司的做法，因为他们自己插入到公共卫生领域。除了为一名人类学研究生的经验、科学数据收集和分析方法培训提供资金外，这项研究的结果还增进了对卫生干预私有化对弱势社区影响的理解。本研究还与主要利益攸关方合作，就如何改进或重新考虑这些干预措施作为解决更广泛发展优先事项的战略提出建议。本研究考察了企业慈善项目如何通过以社区为基础的干预措施产生和实施有关儿童发育迟缓的知识，这些知识如何与围绕身份和发展的更大社会紧张局势进行对话，以及这些干预措施如何影响其目标受益人。该项目有多个目标。首先，研究人员检查了儿童发育迟缓被同时定义为生物和社会问题的方式的变化。其次，该项目展示了身份和遗产的各个方面如何在关于儿童成长和发展的话语中得到体现。此外，还考察了企业慈善家的实践，特别是他们将社会问题与干预动机结合起来的方式。最后，调查考察了公共卫生干预措施方面的私人投资如何影响儿童的成长和发展。为了回答这些问题，调查依赖于对企业高管、公共卫生官员、企业慈善行政人员和实地工作者以及这些努力的目标受益者的访谈和直接观察。此外，调查还包括档案研究，以评估慈善工作影响公共卫生结果的背景。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Malnutrition and other stressors have been shown to hinder childhood growth and development. In turn, stunted growth is associated with reduced brain development, diminished learning capacity, poor school performance, and declines in long-term career outcomes. In settings characterized by compromised growth and development, corporations may philanthropically contribute resources to assist populations of impacted children. This doctoral dissertation project examines the motivations and practices of private corporations as they insert themselves into domains of public health. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, the findings of this research enhances understandings of the effects of privatizing health interventions in disadvantaged communities. In partnership with key stakeholders, this research also generates proposals for how to improve or reconsider these interventions as strategies for addressing broader development priorities.This research examines how corporate philanthropic programs generate and operationalize knowledge about childhood stunting through community-based interventions, how such knowledge-making sits in dialogue with larger social tensions around identities and development, and how these interventions impact their targeted beneficiaries. The project has multiple objectives. First, the investigators examine variation in the ways that childhood stunting is conceptualized simultaneously as a biological and social problem. Second, the project shows how aspects of identity and heritage are represented in discourse about childhood growth and development. In addition, the practices of corporate philanthropists are examined, specifically the ways they frame the social problems to align with the motivations for interventions. Finally, the investigation examines how private investments in public health interventions affect the growth and development of children. To answer these questions the investigation relies on interviews and direct observations of corporate executives, public health officials, corporate philanthropy administrators and fieldworkers, and targeted beneficiaries of these efforts. In addition, the investigation includes archival research to assess the contexts in which philanthropic efforts impact public health outcomes.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.