Dissertation Research: The Effect of Urbanization on Parental Investment Decisions among Fiji Indians

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

Internal migration to urban centers in the developing world involves shifts in the subsistence modes of households, and the value of wage-labor jobs can be significant. Changes in diet, education, and maternal and child work often accompany these shifts. Rates of rural to urban migration are high among Fiji Indians, who first came to Fiji as indentured labors in 1879, and have largely remained agriculturalists since the end of indenture in 1920. Currently, Fiji Indians make up 44% of the population in Fiji, but none own land. Land tenure issues have likely stimulated the high rate of internal migration among Fiji Indians. This dissertation research by a biocultural anthropologist from the University of Washington examines the effect on parental decision-making of rural to urban migration in Fiji. This study attempts to understand how the actions parents take regarding the nutrition, education, and labor expenditures of their children vary between rural and urban environments in the context of internal migration. Using a framework of Embodied Capital Theory, parental investment decisions are considered in reference to parents' expectations of the future lives of their children. This study will collect data on mothers and all children aged 5 to 16 years in 100 rural and 200 urban households, including anthropometrics, food intake, education, work activity, and qualitative interview data on parental perceptions of employment and education. In-depth recording of children's work activity will be done for a sub-sample of 100 children to establish accurate work activity measures that can be analyzed with education and nutrition variables within each ecological setting. Broader Impacts: By utilizing an ecologically sensitive approach to parental decision-making, this study will inform public health and policy programs on the intra-household dynamics of nutritional and educational decisions and how those decisions impact child welfare. In addition the project supports the education of a young social scientist.