"They Come, but They Don't Spend As Much Money": Livelihoods, Dietary Diversity, Food Security, and Nutritional St
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School January 2013 "They Come, but They Don't Spend as Much Money": Livelihoods, Dietary Diversity, Food Security, and Nutritional Status in Two Roatan Communities in the Wake of Global Crises in Food Prices and Finance Racine Marcus Brown University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Nutrition Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Scholar Commons Citation Brown, Racine Marcus, ""They omeC , but They onD 't Spend as Much Money": Livelihoods, Dietary Diversity, Food Security, and Nutritional Status in Two Roatan Communities in the Wake of Global Crises in Food Prices and Finance" (2013). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4447 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “They Come, but They Don’t Spend as Much Money”: Livelihoods, Dietary Diversity, Food Security, and Nutritional Status in Two Roatán Communities in the Wake of Global Crises in Food Prices and Finance by Racine Marcus Brown A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: David A. Himmelgreen, Ph.D. Heide M. Castañeda, Ph.D. Rebecca K. Zarger, Ph.D. Rita Debate, Ph.D. Richard A. Nisbett, Ph.D. Thomas L. Leatherman, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 25, 2013 Keywords: Bioculturalism, Political Ecology, Tourism, Dietary Health, Obesity Copyright © 2013, Racine Marcus Brown DEDICATION This dissertation is for Heather Trubee Brown and Rolton Racine Brown. Darling, you have been my inspiration and the wind in my sails all along. Son, without you, I never would have come this far this fast. I am grateful to both of you right down to the bottom of my heart. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. David Himmelgreen for all of his help and advice in this process, from the start of the program to the completion of this dissertation. I would like to thank the other members of my committee, Drs. Heide Castañeda, Becky Zarger, Rita Debate, Ran Nisbett, and Tom Leatherman for their critiques and contributions to this project. Thanks to Sue Rhinehart and Debbie Roberson in the Department of Anthropology front office for ensuring that I was on track with administrative matters. I would also like to thank the anthropology graduate students for their perspective and encouragement, particularly Janelle Christensen, Marc Hebert, Shanna Hughes, Ginger Johnson, Carylanna Taylor, Melissa Pope, Liotta Dowdy, Ernesto Ruiz, and Juan Ruiz. To my parents, Racine and Louisa Brown; thank you for all your love, support, and encouragement during this process. Racine, I treasure your insights from your own experience of pursuing a Ph.D. in your younger days. Louisa, you have been a wonderful cheerleader and you’re caring for Rolton has been of inestimable value in finishing the dissertation. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law John and Lucy Brown for all of their help along the way. Last but certainly not least, I need to thank all of the people on Roatán who helped with the project. Thanks to Dr. David Evans for helping me make the needed connections and for introducing me to the people and places of Roatán in the first place. I want to express my appreciation to Danie and Bill for providing a place to stay and many interesting, insightful conversations and to Aaron, Christine, and Christie for taking time out of your schedules to help me with interviews and contacts. Thanks to Gary, Mel, Alex, Jonny, and all of the rest of the crew for letting me hang around the shop and ask countless questions. To Jimmy and Don McCoy for your indispensable help with the household interviews. I especially want to thank Esperanza, Nye, Daddy, Puñal, Bernadine, and all the rest of the family for all you have done for me. Alfred, thanks for all the great conversations and for letting me hang out all those times. Thanks to all the people of Roatán who made this project possible TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................................................ xviii Abstract ........................................................................................................................ xxviii Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Research Problem ................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................. 3 Geography ................................................................................................... 3 Geography of the Bay Islands ......................................................... 4 West End Geography ...................................................................... 5 Punta Gorda Geography .................................................................. 6 Historical Overview .................................................................................... 8 Historical Summary of the Bay Islands .......................................... 8 Historical Summary of West End ................................................. 12 Historical Summary of Punta Gorda ............................................. 13 A Brief Demography of West End and Punta Gorda .................... 14 Current Crises ........................................................................................... 16 Hyperinflation of Commodity Food Prices .................................. 16 Summary of the Meltdown .......................................................... 17 The Honduran ‘Coup’ of 2009 ...................................................... 18 Signficance of Resarch ........................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspective ................................................................................... 21 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 21 Summary of the Bioculutral Synthesis ................................................................. 22 Inklings of Synthesis ................................................................................. 23 Wener-Gren and Biocultural Synthesis .................................................... 26 i Bioculturalism in the Twenty-first Century .............................................. 29 On Political Ecology ............................................................................................. 33 An Even Newer Biocultural Synthesis ................................................................. 38 Explicit Incorporation of Political Ecology .............................................. 38 On Tourism ............................................................................................... 42 On Tourism Development and Cultural Disruption ..................... 43 Tourism and Cultural Disruption in Latin America ...................... 47 Dietary Health ........................................................................................... 51 Tourism and Dietary Health ..................................................................... 55 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 58 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology ................................................................ 60 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 60 Research Question and Aims .................................................................... 61 Research Question ........................................................................ 61 Research Aims .............................................................................. 62 Research Plan ........................................................................................................ 62 Site Justification ........................................................................................ 63 Research Design ....................................................................................... 63 Sampling ....................................................................................... 63 Data Collection Strategy ............................................................... 65 Data Management ......................................................................... 79 Analysis Plan ................................................................................ 85 Ethical Considerations .................................................................. 90 Challenges and Adjustments ................................................................................. 91 Chapter 4: Making a Living on Roatán ...........................................................................