Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Anthropological Analysis of Food Security, Biodiversity, and Plant Biotechnology in an Emergent Market

博士论文研究：新兴市场中粮食安全、生物多样性和植物生物技术的人类学分析

• 批准号: 1355496
• 负责人: Vincent Crapanzano
• 金额: $ 1.89万
• 依托单位: CUNY Graduate School University Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2015-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1355496&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Anthropological; Analysis

CUNY Graduate Center doctoral candidate Priya Chandrasekaran, supervised by Dr. Vincent Crapanzano, will research the dynamics of national food security strategies that rely on biotechnology for intensified agricultural production. Such policies have historically had to contend on the one hand with anxieties about declining crop yields and population growth, and on the other hand with concerns about a reliance on plant biotechnology and rainfed grains impacts ecology and biodiversity. The research will be situated in the Himalayan foothills and on millet production. This is an ideal area for investigating such issues, given the enormous size of the population served by this agricultural sector, the government's 20-year engagement with economic liberalization practices, and the recent implementation of a national food security strategy designed to address the problems of expanding population growth and stifled grain yields through the intensification of high yield millet production. The researcher will analyze the symbolic, cultural, and political economic dimensions of competing projects for food security/sovereignty, biodiversity, and development and how they impact and utilize local knowledge systems. Her findings will contribute an ethnographic, case-based understanding to regional, national, and transnational debates about food, agriculture, and rural livelihoods.The project will involve ethnographic fieldwork across local, national, and transnational settings. To gather data on the agroecological labor and livelihoods of farmers, the researcher will spend 9 months in two villages of differing altitude in Uttarakhand, north India where she will use participatory methods and conduct participant observation and interviews. To understand how rainfed grains and farmers are implicated in concerns about food security/sovereignty, biodiversity, and plant biotechnology, the researcher will conduct interviews, archival research, and participant observation for 4 months at key research, governing, corporate, and NGO sites in India and Switzerland. She will also analyze news articles, publications, and media sources, and attend conferences and events concerning food, agriculture, hill ecologies, and women in development. This research will contribute to growing anthropological debates about food security, sustainability in agriculture, and the anthropology of development. In particular, the project will help scientists better understand the social and ecological implications of plant biotechnology, food governance practices, and biodiversity.This project will contribute to training a graduate student in multi-sited ethnographic methods. The research will expand knowledge of global food systems; conflicts over the right to food, nature, and property; and the process of economic development.

纽约市立大学研究生中心博士生 Priya Chandrasekaran 在 Vincent Crapanzano 博士的指导下，将研究依赖生物技术集约化农业生产的国家粮食安全战略的动态。从历史上看，此类政策一方面必须应对作物产量下降和人口增长的担忧，另一方面还要应对对植物生物技术和雨养谷物影响生态和生物多样性的担忧。该研究将位于喜马拉雅山麓的小米生产上。鉴于该农业部门服务的人口规模巨大、政府 20 年的经济自由化实践以及最近实施的旨在解决粮食安全问题的国家粮食安全战略，这是调查此类问题的理想领域。通过集约化高产小米生产，扩大人口增长并抑制粮食产量。研究人员将分析粮食安全/主权、生物多样性和发展竞争项目的象征、文化和政治经济维度，以及它们如何影响和利用当地知识体系。她的研究结果将为有关粮食、农业和农村生计的区域、国家和跨国辩论提供人种学、基于案例的理解。该项目将涉及跨地方、国家和跨国环境的人种学实地考察。 为了收集有关农业生态劳动和农民生计的数据，研究人员将在印度北部北阿坎德邦的两个不同海拔的村庄花费9个月的时间，采用参与式方法进行参与式观察和访谈。为了了解雨养谷物和农民如何与粮食安全/主权、生物多样性和植物生物技术相关，研究人员将在以下国家的主要研究、管理、企业和非政府组织地点进行为期 4 个月的访谈、档案研究和参与者观察：印度和瑞士。她还将分析新闻文章、出版物和媒体资源，并参加有关粮食、农业、山区生态和妇女参与发展的会议和活动。这项研究将有助于引发关于粮食安全、农业可持续性和发展人类学的人类学辩论。特别是，该项目将帮助科学家更好地了解植物生物技术、食品治理实践和生物多样性的社会和生态影响。该项目将有助于培训研究生的多地点人种学方法。该研究将扩大对全球粮食系统的了解；关于食物权、自然权和财产权的冲突；以及经济发展的过程。