Maria Elisa Christie

Kitchenspace: Gendered territory in central Mexico

Drawing on extensive ethnographic field research with multiple women and kitchens in two central Mexico communities, this article argues for kitchenspace—indoor and outdoor spaces where food preparation takes place—as gendered territory. Using a feminist political ecology approach, it explores private and semi-public space in the everyday, household kitchen and the fiesta or ‘smoke’ kitchen at the center of community celebrations. Marked as gendered territory by distinct social boundaries and gendered, discursive strategies, kitchenspace is vital to the maintenance of traditional forms of organization and generational transmission of cultural and embodied knowledge. This article questions assumptions about ‘the kitchen’ as a site of social isolation and womens oppression that often characterize feminist approaches. It considers embeddedness in local social and spatial contexts and the importance of everyday life in private and public spaces.

KITCHENSPACE, FIESTAS, AND CULTURAL REPRODUCTION IN MEXICAN HOUSE-LOT GARDENS

The house‐lot garden in central Mexico is gendered space where changing cultural identities are negotiated, re‐created, and celebrated as “tradition” is continually redefined. No clear boundary separates the kitchen from the house‐lot garden or the private space of the household from the semipublic space of the community. During collective food preparation for religious fiestas, gendered reciprocity networks strengthen community relations and foster alliances between traditional neighborhoods and between communities in the region. At the intersection of everyday life and fiestas, food‐preparation spaces, or kitchenspaces, in the house‐lot garden are fertile areas in which to explore the cultural reproduction of nature‐society relations. They are vital to understanding gender, place, and culture in this region and represent peoples symbolic connection with the land in increasingly urban contexts. This article analyzes the sense of place that Mexican women derive from their house‐lot gardens.

Farmers, peanuts, and aflatoxins in Uganda: A gendered approach

This article describes a collaborative research for development project that used participatory methods to engage smallholder farmers in Uganda in post-harvest aflatoxin management. It is based primarily on qualitative research with peanut growers tracing ‘the path of the peanut’ through their hand-drawn maps and journal writing. By focusing on everyday life and including recipes and drawings, this research encouraged womens participation and emphasised womens roles. A unique partnership among universities, womens organisations, and farmers created an environment of mutual learning and produced a book documenting food preparation and other post-harvest practices as part of a study and capacity-building effort on peanuts and aflatoxins.

Embodied Livelihoods and Tomato Farmers’ Gendered Experience of Pesticides in Tuobodom, Ghana

Abstract In the pursuit of technical goals such as improved yields or reduced pest damage, agricultural development programs—and the technologies they introduce—can alter or reinforce gender roles and relations with clear implications for gender equality. This case study explores the experiences of tomato production and pest management of men and women farmers in Tuobodom, Ghana. A primary goal of the research is to better understand the farmers’ current dependence on pesticides and identify gender-based constraints to, and opportunities for, the introduction of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. The findings reveal how contact with pesticides becomes part of tomato farmers’ embodied experiences and how different roles played by men and women in agriculture, coupled with the differences in their knowledge, perceptions, and access to resources, result in differential exposure to and experiences of pesticides. Analysis using an embodied livelihoods framework reveals that men and women face a paradox in which their dependence on pesticides for tomato production reduces their body capitals, which they need to sustain their corporeal existence through their livelihoods as tomato farmers. The IPM programs could introduce alternative technologies of pest management that reduce dependence on toxic chemical pesticides, but these alternatives will be successful only if they are developed in collaboration with farmers.

Women’s access and experience in higher education agricultural programs in Africa

ABSTRACT In Africa women are underrepresented in higher education (HE) agricultural programs, despite the fact that they make up half of the agricultural labor force. This article discusses the reasons for women’s low enrollment in HE agricultural programs, focusing on socio-cultural norms and gendered perceptions of agriculture. Moving beyond access, it also explores the institutional culture and learning environment in HE agricultural programs. We argue that women often feel unsafe, uncomfortable, and isolated in these programs and that conservative socio-cultural norms, which discriminate against women in society and family life, also permeate institutions of HE. The data comes from a literature review, a Southern and Eastern Africa regional workshop, and focus groups and interviews conducted with faculty and students in South Sudan and Mozambique. We conclude with recommendations for increasing the number of women in agricultural programs and improving their experience.

CLAG Outstanding Service Award for 2004: Gregory W. Knapp

Dr. Gregory W. Knapp is a recipient of CLAG’s Outstanding Service Award for 2004. This honor is due to his exceptional service during his five years as Executive Director of CLAG (1992-1997), as well as his service editing the organization’s newsletter (1992-1994), the Yearbook (2002), managing the website, serving on the Board of Directors, and organizing a CLAG meeting (2000). The award also recognizes his broader service to Latin Americanist geography as a textbook co-author, department chair, and mentor to students. When Greg became Executive Director of CLAG in summer 1992, the organization faced many challenges. It had a membership, a publication series, and a series of international meetings, but costs had been exceeding income and many were urging retrenchment. With the invaluable help of outgoing chief operations officer Tom Martinson, Greg moved CLAG’s headquarters from Auburn, Alabama to Austin, Texas, where he forged partnerships with the University of Texas Press and what is now the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS). Greg worked out an agreement whereby the Press eventually took over management of the membership roll and distribution of the Yearbook, while LLILAS provided office space, storage for publications, and other help. Bankruptcy was averted, membership stabilized, and Greg made sure that the Yearbook continued to be published and distributed on schedule. Greg also edited the Newsletter from December 1992 to December 1994. When he finished his directorship in 1997 the organization was financially sound and flourishing. During this period he also co-authored with Cesar Caviedes a textbook on South America which helped present the work of many CLAG members to a broad student audience. After leaving the directorship of CLAG, Greg continued to support Latin Americanist geography from his position as Chair of the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas (1996-2004). During his chairmanship, the Department hired eleven geographers, six of whom work in Latin America. This faculty in turn will surely inspire students to participate in and support CLAG in the future, as Greg has for so many years. Greg organized a very successful CLAG meeting in Austin in 2000. In 2002, he edited a special edition of the CLAG Yearbook which was published in book format, Latin America in the Twenty First Century: Challenges and Solutions. This has become the best selling publication in CLAG history, and is now in its second printing. Greg is a veteran of the progressive cultural and environmental movements of