Dartmouth College The proposed research will focus upon the theme of the globalization of food and agriculture and the interplay of political-economic forces and cultural processes linked to mass market, food retailing in Singapore. The project has four basic objectives. These are to detail the political-economic forces and key actors in the rise of super stores and supermarkets; to understand changes in food retailing since 1970; to carry out brief ethnographic pilot studies to better understand food retailing on consumer culture; and to use Jakarta, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to develop connections to the food retailing sector in order to draw comparisons with Singapore. Methodologies will use store-based ethnographies, focus groups and numerous interviews. The product will allow the investigator to prepare a proposal for broader investigation of food retailing as a reflection of globalization in the Southeast Asian region.
