Graduation Year
2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Anthropology
Degree Granting Department
Anthropology
Major Professor
David Himmelgreen, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Heide Castañeda, Ph.D., MPH
Committee Member
Alex Levine, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Lynn Morgan, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Nancy Romero-Daza, Ph.D.
Keywords
Biocultural Anthropology, Costa Rica, Cultural Consonance, Food Systems, Globalization
Abstract
This dissertation examined the relationship between food security status and cultural congruence and indicators of child growth and development in a rural mountain town in Costa Rica. Results show that children from food secure households are significantly shorter and shorter-legged than their food insecure counterparts. It is theorized that these findings correspond to low quality diets associated with increasing commodification of food systems in rural Costa Rica. Identity-based mechanisms are discussed as potential factors contributing to the increasing commodification of life through the encroachment of the global market economy.
Scholar Commons Citation
Ruiz, Ernesto, "Growing Children: The relationship between food insecurity and child growth and development." (2014). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/5299
