Stable isotope analysis of human tissue can provide information about diet independent of artifactual remains. Food is broken down and used in the synthesis of body tissue, so the isotopic composition of hair keratin reflects the isotopic composition of foods consumed. Therefore, the analysis of hair can provide a window into broad dietary practices, and this view can supplement the information that is inferred from artifacts such as hunting tools and hearths. This project details the use of historic Plains Indians hair as a sample material for carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis. A minimum specimen size of a 2-cm (l00- 150 μg) segment of a strand was established. This indicates that small hair fragments found in archeological excavations can be informative. It also allowed the testing of up to 12 sequential segments from strands up to 24 cm long. Since hair grows about 1 cm per month, a 24-cm strand provided about a 2-yr record of isotopes and diet. The isotopic variations along some strands were as high as 0.49‰ for δ¹⁵N and 1.05‰ for δ¹³C, exceeding the background analytical uncertainty of 0.22‰ for δ¹⁵N and 0.2l‰ for δ¹³C. Differences between individuals and between population groups also exceeded this background level, validating the use of this isotope technique in discriminating isotopic differences between hairs and between people. No isotopic differences were found between males and females, and no isotopic differences were found based on the age of the individual. This suggests that there are no physiological differences by gender or age affecting isotope metabolism, which means that should a study find an isotopic difference between men and women, it would reflect dietary differences, not physiological ones. Isotope testing produced distinct isotope profiles (δ¹⁵N vs. δ¹³C) for two cultural groups, the Lower Brule reservation Sioux of 1892 and the reservation Blackfoot of 1892 and 1935. The resultant dietary profiles indicate a higher consumption of meat by the Blackfoot and a higher consumption of corn by the Lower Brule. The two groups of Blackfoot fit into the same profile despite the passage of several decades. This raises the possibility that stable isotope analysis can also be used to identify members of the same cultural population. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 300-341). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1996. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-325).

No description available.

This exploratory research study examines changes in food and foodways (food habits) among Arab migrant families in a small community in Tampa, Florida. It also explores how those families’ children may play a role in the process of change. Within this community, I conducted my research study at a private school, where I recruited families with children between the ages of eight and seventeen. In applying the ecological model of food and nutrition and the developmental niche theoretical framework, this research draws on qualitative methods, including structured interviews with parents; focus group discussion with parents; a food survey; and children’s focus groups that included engaging activities such as vignettes (role playing), free-listing and sorting, and one-day food menus. I used MAXQDA 18 software for qualitative data analysis, and the results show that the main factors aiding in post-migration food and foodways changes are time constraints (lifestyle), ingredients, and availability and accessibility of permissible food (halal). Parent did not mention their children as a main factor; however, they perceive influence of their children. Feeding practices such as rewarding, restriction, forcing, and family meals were emerging themes, and children express their agency around those practices. Children developed their own agency regarding food because of their social and physical environments. Older children perceived their influence on their families’ food and foodways by introducing food items to their own families.

El objetivo de este estudio es conocer cómo influyen los procesos de socialización en los comportamientos alimentarios de la población infantil y adolescente de Catalunya, así como en los denominados Trastornos del Comportamiento Alimentario (TCA). Actualmente es reconocida la importancia que el contexto sociocultural tiene en las maneras de comer, tanto individuales como colectivas. En este sentido, mediante metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa, la tesis trata de desmenuzar parte de la complejidad biopsicosocial inherente al “hecho alimentario”. La intención es obtener un conocimiento lo más exhaustivo posible de los aspectos socioculturales que explican los comportamientos alimentarios de infantes y adolescentes que viven en Catalunya, ya que sólo así las campañas de prevención pueden ir acorde con las características de la población y garantizar su impacto. El estudio obtiene resultados interesantes. En primer lugar visibiliza el carácter indisociable de la dimensión nutricional y sociocultural de la alimentación. Las maneras de comer no responden únicamente a motivos de salud, sino que tienen que ver con todas aquellas cuestiones que hacen que comer o no comer tomen sentido en nuestro contexto actual: el placer, la estética, la economía, la autoimagen, la afectividad, la autonomía, la identidad, etc. Por eso el estudio aboga por una educación alimentaria que enfoque la salud y la prevención desde perspectivas más amplias y holísticas que permitan definir y actuar sobre los complejos vínculos que existen hoy en día entre cuerpo, alimentación y salud; que relacione adecuadamente los aspectos biológicos y socioculturales inherentes al "hecho alimentario"; y que tenga en cuenta las diferencias y similitudes de la diversidad de opciones alimentarias existentes en nuestro contexto socioalimentario actual. El estudio también pone de manifiesto que el punto de partida de los TCA es el cuerpo, entendido este último desde una perspectiva fenomenológica. Por un lado se evidencia la estrecha relación existente entre la comida como modo de expresión y control social y el cuerpo como una medida de evaluación social y personal desigual según género. En este sentido, se ve cómo el significado que va adquiriendo el comer y el no comer para niños y niñas es distinto -y desigual- en tanto que también lo es su contexto socializador. De esta forma, la alimentación se suele convertir en una “herramienta” de (auto) control y expresión corporal más contundente en las mujeres que en los hombres. Para ellos, no obstante, suele ser el ejercicio físico y la práctica de actividad física la “herramienta” más aprehendida e interiorizada a la hora de construir y poner de manifiesto sus identidades corporales. Por otro lado, además de “herramienta” de expresión y control corporal, cabe señalar que el estudio también da a conocer de qué manera la alimentación puede servir de elemento contestatario, reivindicativo y de liberación. Por último, el estudio compara los procesos de socialización alimentaria de personas diagnosticadas de TCA con el de no diagnosticadas. Este análisis comparativo lleva a plantear los TCA -al menos las formas más leves- como “ESTARes alimentarios” en la medida en que se trata de prácticas y actitudes alimentarias que toman sentido dentro del continuum relacionado con la lógica sociocultural que explica las formas de “ESTAR” y comer de nuestro contexto actual y que implican un diálogo bidireccional entre el sufrimiento o displacer (“malESTAR”) y el placer o satisfacción (“bienESTAR”) corporal que es expresado a través de la alimentación. / “Learning to eat: socialization processes and Eating Disorders” The objective of this study is to know the sociocultural factors that, in the socialization process, influence in eating behaviors of children from 6 to 16 years in Catalonia, as well as to analyze the relation between these learning processes and specific eating problems presented in our society as they are the denominated Eating Disorders (ED). The study obtains interesting results. For exemple, it visualizes the intrinsic link between nutrition and sociocultural dimension of feeding. Ways to eat not only respond to health reasons, but they have to do with all issues that make eating or not eating make sense in our present context: the pleasure, aesthetics, economy, self image, affectivity, autonomy, identity, etc. Therefore the study advocates to feeding education that focuses health and prevention from a holistic perspective that allows to define and to act on the current and complex links between body, feeding and health; that relates the inherent biological and sociocultural aspects of “feeding fact”; and that considers the differences and similarities of different eating options that exist in each concrete socioalimentary context. The study also shows that the starting point of ED is “the body”, understood from a phenomenological perspective. On one hand it demonstrates the relationship between food as a way of expression and social control, on the other hand, the body as an unequal way of social and personal evaluation, and it finally shows that food can be used as a replay, claim and a way of liberation. Finally, the study compares feeding socialization processes between people diagnosed with eating disorders and people not diagnosed with eating disorder. This raises the Eating Disorders as “ESTARes alimentarios” because this kind of eating behaviors make sense in the continuum related to sociocultural logic that explains the ways of “ESTAR” (being) and eat in our current context and involve a two-way dialogue between the suffering (“malESTAR”) and pleasure (“bienESTAR”) corporal that is expressed through food.