Doctoral Dissertation Research: Agrobiodiversity, Food Security, and Food Culture in Bolivia

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the role of crop diversity in Andean food security, using Bolivian food culture as a lens to analyze the linkages between native crops, household food consumption practices, and the broader social context. Bolivia presents a paradox common in crop centers of origin, because the country is rich in agrobiodiversity, but it exhibits the highest levels of malnutrition in South America. Genetically diverse crop varieties have evolved in conjunction with varied biophysical environments and farmers' cultural practices, but such varieties tend to be maintained in marginal agricultural areas, which are frequently sites of high food insecurity. While the existing literature offers detailed examinations of the role of environmental factors and agricultural practices in the evolution and maintenance of crop diversity, the relationship between these forces and the broader social processes driving small-scale farmers' social and economic marginalization has largely remained unanalyzed. In order to fill this gap in the literature, three empirical questions will be explored in this project: (1) What relationships exist between household culinary practices and the genetic and morphological patterning of native and traditional Andean crops? (2) How do practices, values, and selection pressures on crop diversity change as food products and people move across space? (3) How does agrobiodiversity contribute to the food security of vulnerable rural and urban populations? Data responding to these questions will be gathered through a detailed case-study of the Cochabamba region of Bolivia, relying on a combination of interviews, participant observation, and survey techniques. These data will further underpin theoretical inquiries along two lines. First, they will provide insights into the leveraging of native and traditional foods in narratives of indigeneity, modernity, and difference-making in the present-day Bolivian public sphere. Second, they will contribute to ongoing debates surrounding the ways in which the material nature of goods and the social meanings surrounding them contribute to competing conceptions of value. This project will generate basic theoretical and applied knowledge about the relationships linking agrobiodiversity to food security and food culture. Although the existence of these relationships is widely accepted, the mechanisms underpinning them have not been explored extensively. By examining agrobiodiversity and food consumption as elements of a continuous food system, this project will shed new light on the role of crop genetic resources in a wider social context. In the realms of policy and application, this research has direct relevance to the design of programs to alleviate hunger and food insecurity in Bolivia and other comparable locales. Through collaborative relationships with applied development organizations in the country, the project will generate knowledge leading to new opportunities for reinforcing locally sustainable food systems. Furthermore, this project will help to develop methodological principles for the study of agrobiodiversity and food security suitable for other world regions. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.