University of Florida doctoral student Douglas A. Monroe, supervised by Dr. Clarence C. Gravlee, will undertake a six-month investigation of food insecurity. Globally, food insecurity is driven largely by food scarcity, but in the United States some people suffer from food insecurity even though food is abundant. The project will address four related exploratory questions: (1) How do African Americans who vary in terms of their economic resources, neighborhood context, and household composition experience food insecurity over time?; (2) in what ways does food insecurity mediate their dietary behaviors?; (3) what social, physical, and macro-level forces influence food insecurity?; and (4) what sociocultural and environmental factors distinguish African Americans who experience food insecurity from those who do not?
To address these questions the Co-PI will recruit a sub-sample of 32 African Americans who were randomly selected to participate in a broader epidemiological study and conduct a series of in-depth ethnographic interviews over the course of six months. At two-month intervals the Co-PI will visit respondents and elicit information about their household and neighborhood food environments, experiences of food insecurity, coping strategies, and also assess their dietary behaviors using a mixed methods approach. By conducting three interviews with each respondent over the study period, the Co-PI will be able to track seasonal variation and identify the corresponding variables associated with food insecurity.
Applying an ecological framework to the study of food insecurity and focusing on the sociocultural dimensions of food will help to explain differences in food security status among African Americans. The results will serve to disentangle the experience of food insecurity from food insufficiency, generate new hypotheses about the causes and consequences of food insecurity, and identify variables that should be considered in future research.
Tallahassee represents a locale with substantial interest in neighborhood food environments as they relate to food security and nutritional health. Various organizations and community-academic partnerships such as the Tallahassee Food Network (TFN) and the Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) have promoted sustainable food, urban gardening, and better nutritional health. Through the dissemination of its findings, this project will improve the representation of historical underrepresented groups in food security studies and increase the scientific knowledge of scholars, policymakers, and community organizations such that they can advance their goals and activities.
