A Cross-Cultural Study of Integration to the Market and Indigenous Health in the Ecuadorian Amazon

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

Ecuador's Amazon houses extraordinary levels of plant and animal biodiversity, plays a key role in global climate processes and carbon cycles, and supports the physical and cultural survival of indigenous and traditional forest people. However, because of petroleum exploitation, colonization, infrastructure development, urbanization, and land clearing for agriculture and cattle ranching, since 1990, Ecuador has had the highest rate of deforestation in the entire Amazon Basin. These processes also have led indigenous populations to become increasingly involved in the market economy, with profound economic, health, and cultural implications. Dr. Flora Lu and Dr. Mark V. Sorensen, both of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will undertake research on the health consequences of increasing integration to the market among a cross-cultural sample of five native Amazonian populations of northeastern Ecuador. The research will (1) investigate variation in health, and (2) examine the mechanisms through which market integration influences health through reciprocity networks, mobility, diet, and access to and use of medical care. The project integrates methodologies from ecological, cultural, and biological anthropology. Research methods to be employed include focus groups, cultural domain analysis, dietary intake interviews, and time allocation studies, as well as anthropometric assessment and biomarkers of current infection, anemia, and vitamin A status. This project is one of the few cross-cultural and interdisciplinary studies of indigenous economics and health. It builds on long-term collaborative and comparative research in the region and develops a model based on linking empirical data on market integration with biocultural outcomes. Theoretically, this research furthers understanding of the connections between cultural behavior, socioeconomic context, and health, with implications for biocultural resilience, human behavioral ecology, and life history theory. The broader impacts of this project will be seen in its relevance to promotion of indigenous well-being, direct public communication to policymakers, and promotion of education and training of Ecuadorian and United States students.