Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Economy of Child Labor in the Acai Commodity Chain

博士论文研究：巴西莓商品链中的童工经济

• 批准号: 1155734
• 负责人: Beth Conklin
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-04-01 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155734&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economy; Child

Vanderbilt University doctoral candidate Monte D. Hendrickson, supervised by Dr. Beth A. Conklin, will conduct research addressing the cultural criteria of children's roles in producing export commodities, a subject that has received little anthropological attention. Hendrickson's study focuses specifically on acai production in the lower Amazon region of Brazil and investigates children's roles in the production of this commodity, which is marketed as an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible product that enhances the livelihoods of the rural poor. This research seeks to understand how the moral and economic processes involved in a global commodity boom affect the lives of children and the cultural politics of childhood in poor families at the production end of an export-commodity chain. To evaluate these complex links between acai and children's wellbeing, research will be conducted in two rural communities, Gurupa and Curralinho, in the state of Para. Research will involve multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative data to yield insights into local concepts, understandings, and perspectives on decision-making concerning children's health, education, and labor, and children's contributions to acai production. Statistical data from official records and findings from household surveys will be complemented and contextualized by ethnographic participant-observation, open-ended interviewing, semi-structured and structured interviews, participatory photo interviews with children, and life histories collected in each community. This research is significant in that it contributes to an under-theorized dimension of human rights concerns: the question of the moral and ethical evaluation of children's labor activities in family/household contexts. This investigation will produce a rich case study of work conditions, effects on income, education, and health, and attitudes toward children and childhood in these rural Amazonian communities. The dissertation based on this field study will juxtapose this local case study against discourses at the regional and international levels concerning the benefits of acai, fair trade, rural household production, and child labor.

范德堡大学博士生蒙特·D·亨德里克森 (Monte D. Hendrickson) 在贝丝·康克林 (Beth A. Conklin) 博士的指导下，将开展针对儿童在生产出口商品中的角色的文化标准的研究，这一主题很少受到人类学的关注。 亨德里克森的研究特别关注巴西亚马逊下游地区的巴西莓生产，并调查了儿童在这种商品生产中的作用，该商品被作为一种环境可持续和对社会负责的产品进行销售，可改善农村贫困人口的生计。 本研究旨在了解全球商品繁荣所涉及的道德和经济过程如何影响出口商品链生产端贫困家庭儿童的生活以及儿童的文化政治。 为了评估巴西莓与儿童福祉之间的复杂联系，研究将在帕拉州的古鲁帕和库拉利尼奥这两个农村社区进行。 研究将涉及多个来源的定性和定量数据，以深入了解当地关于儿童健康、教育和劳动力的决策的概念、理解和观点，以及儿童对巴西莓生产的贡献。 官方记录的统计数据和家庭调查结果将通过人种学参与观察、开放式访谈、半结构化和结构化访谈、儿童参与式照片访谈以及每个社区收集的生活史来补充和背景化。这项研究的意义重大，因为它有助于解决人权问题的理论不足问题：对家庭/家庭环境中儿童劳动活动的道德和伦理评估问题。 这项调查将对这些亚马逊农村社区的工作条件、对收入、教育和健康的影响以及对儿童和童年的态度进行丰富的案例研究。 基于这项实地研究的论文将把本地案例研究与区域和国际层面有关巴西莓好处、公平贸易、农村家庭生产和童工的讨论并列起来。