An Anthropological Exploration of the Effects of Family Cash Transfers On
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AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE EFFECTS OF FAMILY CASH TRANSFERS ON THE DIETS OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Anthropology, Indiana University July, 2017 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. Doctoral Committee ________________________________ Eduardo S. Brondízio, PhD ________________________________ Catherine Tucker, PhD ________________________________ Darna L. Dufour, PhD ________________________________ Richard R. Wilk, PhD ________________________________ Stacey Giroux Wells, PhD Date of Defense: April 14th, 2017. ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my research committee. I have immense gratitude and admiration for my main adviser, Eduardo Brondízio, who has been present and supportive throughout the development of this dissertation as a mentor, critic, reviewer, and friend. Richard Wilk has been a source of inspiration and encouragement since the first stages of this work, someone who never doubted my academic capacity and improvement. Darna Dufour generously received me in her lab upon my arrival from fieldwork, giving precious advice on writing, and much needed expert guidance during a long year of dietary and anthropometric data entry and analysis. Catherine Tucker was on board and excited with my research from the very beginning, and carefully reviewed the original manuscript. Stacey Giroux shared her experience in our many meetings in the IU Center for Survey Research, and provided rigorous feedback. I feel privileged to have worked with this set of brilliant and committed academics. I highly appreciate the financial support I received, including from Indiana University’s Graduate Division of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Anthropology, The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), The National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Institute (IDSM). At IDSM I was housed in the Riverine People’s Research Group and received invaluable guidance from Ana Claudeise Nascimento. Dávila Correa and Angela Steward also offered great support during fieldwork. I appreciate the support of all IDSM team, especially Quality of Life Program staff members, Mercês and Dores, who are kind and resourceful, and would go miles out of their way to solve my fieldwork troubles. Many thanks also to the Social Science Research iii Commons at IU, especially Jessie He, who for months assisted with the statistical analysis for this project. I hold all Amanã residents who participated in this research in the highest regard. I am indebted to all women, men, adolescents and children who received me in their communities and in their homes, and agreed to share part of their lives with me. Many women and adolescents were willing and attentive to participate in time consuming data collection activities, showing a level of dedication and compassion I had never before seen. I am especially in debt to a tireless barqueiro who assisted me in moving around. It was never too early or too hot. He was always there and prepared: canoe, paddle, life jackets, gasoline, and a lot of wisdom to navigate the sinuous river waters. I am in massive debt to Samuel Schramski, my husband. By marrying me, he had to know he was committing to hundreds of hours of revisions of many iterations of a stubborn person’s manuscripts: I did finish my NSF proposal a day before our marriage celebration in San Diego. My in-laws, Marty Eberhardt and Phil Hastings, got caught up in it too. Marty also reviewed my NSF, and both reviewed stages of a chapter during our vacation travels. Perhaps in coming years I will pay my debt to Sam, by revising (more of) his work in Portuguese. Sam, thank you for not only standing by me always, but helping me stand and making me tall. I would have no words if not for the patience, dedication, and support of all aforementioned people and organizations, as well as others here unnamed. My heartfelt thank you to all of you. iv Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE EFFECT OF FAMILY CASH TRANSFERS ON THE DIETS OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON The Bolsa Família program (BFP) has reached almost a quarter of the Brazilian population. The program targets households in extreme poverty through direct cash transfers from the federal government. Essentially, debit cards are issued, preferably to mothers in a household, and monthly cash transfers are made on the condition that their children meet education (minimum school attendance) and health requirements (vaccinations). Since its inauguration in 2003 (current incarnation), there have been many evaluations of the BFP concerning its impact on child nutrition, which have yielded inconsistent results. Evaluations have raised questions about the use of funds for competing households needs and the BFP’s role in contributing to a “nutrition transition” trend (Popkin 1994), with direct impacts on the quality of children’s diets (Ibase 2008). Chronic child malnutrition has been widely assessed in the rural Brazilian Amazon and consumption of processed foods is on the rise (Piperata 2007). However, agricultural production still contributes to a large portion of the diets, and children are active in procuring foods (Smith et al. 2007). In this context, this research investigates household management of the BFP-benefit, testing if management features are associated with food provisioning, intake of processed foods, and health status. Moreover, it addresses the effect of BFP participation on mothers’ diets. The research has a longitudinal design, using mixed methods (e.g. ethnography, household money management interviews, 24-hour dietary recalls, and anthropometry – the last two repeated three times during the year); and a case control, including non-BFP participants (census interview and food frequency questionnaire). The dissertation chapters address the historical and socio-cultural context of the communities studied; environmental variables associated with fluctuations in diets; BFP participation and its associations with consumption of processed foods and food production; and BFP cash-benefit management and its associations with health variables. ________________________________ Eduardo S. Brondízio, PhD ________________________________ Catherine Tucker, PhD ________________________________ Darna L. Dufour, PhD ________________________________ Richard R. Wilk, PhD ________________________________ Stacey Giroux Wells, PhD v AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE EFFECTS OF FAMILY CASH TRANSFERS ON THE DIETS OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON Table of Contents INTRODUCTION TO THE DISSERTATION .................................................................................. 1 Research problem ................................................................................................................. 1 Background: logics behind the BFP ..................................................................................... 5 Bolsa Família rules and regulations .................................................................................... 7 Perspectives included in the analysis .................................................................................. 8 Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................... 11 Research Design and methodologies .................................................................................... 12 Dissertation roadmap .......................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 1: EVERYDAY LIFE AT AMANÃ ............................................................................... 24 Introduction and the Photovoice project.............................................................................. 25 The formation of the Amanã Reserve ............................................................................... 26 History of occupation ....................................................................................................... 29 Agriculture, fishing, and identity at Amanã .......................................................................... 31 Positionality and other identities ......................................................................................... 45 The presence of the church .................................................................................................. 52 Women’s positions .............................................................................................................. 55 IDSM presence .................................................................................................................... 63 Final remarks....................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 2: EVERYDAY FOOD CULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN AMANÃ ....................... 71 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 71 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................... 74 Diets and cuisine .............................................................................................................