Dissertation Defense

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Katie Ward, PhD Candidate

 

"Exploring Cycle Changes Related to Luteal Phase Parenting Adaptations"

 

Monday, June 23, 2025

2:00 pm

GC 4700

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Dissertation Defense

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Blanca Yagüe, PhD Candidate

 

"Continuity and Adaptation of Indigenous Foodways in Urban Context: Insights from Diets and Markets in the Colombian Amazon"

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

9:00 am

GC 5825

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Continuity and Adaptation of Indigenous Foodways in Urban Context: Insights from Diets and Markets in the Colombian Amazon

Abstract

In an increasingly urban world, complex multi-ethnic contexts are rapidly transforming Indigenous peoples’ lives. Urbanization and market integration drive the nutrition transition, with Indigenous peoples incorporating non-native and market foods into their diets, affecting their health outcomes, cultural transmission, identity, and overall wellbeing. However, they adapt their foodways and cultural practices to the urban environment, as the market also opens opportunities for accessing new foods and creates novel income sources by commercializing Indigenous foods. This dissertation looks at how all this unfolds in the city of Mitú in the Colombian Amazon.

First, it uncovers Indigenous peoples’ diets in the city, confirming the presence of Indigenous foods. Then, it compares diet diversity of Indigenous households in a remote, almost self-sufficient, rural community with urban Indigenous households, trying to resolve the ongoing debate of whether urbanization makes diets less diverse, or if it widens food options, making diets more varied. No statistically significant difference in diet diversity was found between the two populations, although diets were not the same qualitatively.

Second, it looks closely at the variability of Indigenous families’ diets in the city and how ethnic identity may affect diet diversity and composition; households with no non-Indigenous members tend to eat more Indigenous foods. It also investigates the influence of time lived in the city on Indigenous peoples’ diets.

Third, it examines how urban Indigenous people benefit from market integration by exploring the importance of Indigenous women-led restaurants in the local economy and the social life of Mitú. These women serve Indigenous dishes, maintaining food traditions and generating income in a city with high inflation and unemployment. Concurrently, they face challenges in running their businesses because of the predominance of non-Indigenous logics imposed by the local government and the non-Indigenous society.

This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of the Indigenous urban experience and the continuity and adaptations of their foodways in the city. It has a novel approach to how the market can play a role in maintaining Indigenous foodways and expands our knowledge of urban Amazonia. It has implications for food policies and urban Indigenous.