Fuji Lozada's Fieldnotes

Anthropologist at Davidson College

  • About Fuji
    • c.v.
    • Email me
    • Meet with me
  • Teaching
    • Previously Taught Classes
    • Teaching Style
      • Complex social theory can be said in plain English
      • Social/cultural theory should be relevant
      • Methodology is Important
      • Writing is a form of thinking
        • Writing a strong thesis statement
        • Making an Argument
        • Response Papers
      • Doing your own field-based research is the best way to learn about anthropology
    • Davidson in China
  • Research
    • Projects
    • Abstracts
    • My Work as a Wordle
    • Fieldnotes
      • Ghana
      • Cyberia
      • Youtube Worth Watching
  • Hack College
    • Make the digital work for you
    • Stalking your professors using Outlook
    • Read with an agenda
    • Write a research proposal
    • Outline to make research easier
    • Use theory
    • Write a literature review
    • Structure of an abstract
    • Notes on teaching and learning

FDA Reports: antiobiotics in feed do not meet FDA safety requirements

March 1, 2017 By Fuji

After reading Livestock’s Long Shadow, someone in the class asked about why the FDA allows antibiotics to be used in feed. By happenstance, I discovered a National Resources Defense Council brief that reviewed an FDA review of the safety of feed antibiotics that had been approved for ‘non-therapeutic use.’

FDA’s scientific reviewers’ findings show that none of these products would likely be approvable as new additives for nontherapeutic livestock use if submitted today, under current FDA guidelines. Eighteen of the 30 reviewed feed additives were deemed to pose a “high risk” of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria through the food supply, based on the information available. The remainder lacked adequate data for the reviewers to make any determination and their safety remains unproven. In addition, FDA concluded in their review that at least 26 of the reviewed feed additives do not satisfy even the safety standards set by FDA in 1973. (From NDRC)

Filed Under: Food

Aquaculture in China

August 1, 2014 By Fuji

As the world’s population grows, there are greater demands placed on the natural environment to feed people – people whose dietary expectations have changed with a greater awareness of how other people live. With this increase in the consumption of animal protein, aquaculture has been portrayed as the latest technological panacea to save the environment, promote economic development (Sachs 2007), and strengthen food security (Godfray et.al. 2010). There is much to recommend sustainable aquaculture, especially when compared to other animal protein sources. Fish in general have a higher feed conversion ratio than beef, pork, or poultry (Steinfeld et.al. 2006). Aquaculture has lower environmental costs in terms of land use and degradation, pollutant emissions, or fresh water and energy consumption (Hall et.al. 2011). Farmed fish are also the fastest growing agricultural sector (between 1970 and 2008), outpacing population growth (FAO 2008:6), with the highest value in the global food trade. In 2008, aquaculture accounted for 45.7% of the global fish production for human consumption, with an estimated value of US$ 98.4 billion (FAO 2010: 18). The bulk of aquaculture production took place in developing countries, with China by far the largest producer (62.3%) of farmed fish.
This growth in aquaculture, however, has been considered by many (Goldburg, Elliot, and Naylor 2001; Pauly 2002) to not be sustainable: economic scale within an ecological system, equitable distribution of resources, and efficient allocation that accounts for natural capital (Costanza and Patten 1995:194). This long-term, ethnographic study will explore the social, economic, and environmental challenges faced by fish farmers in the Yangtze River Delta to better understand how sustainable aquaculture can be promoted among both small and medium scale producers. In a previous study, I found particular conditions that made aquaculture in North Carolina sustainable: an emphasis on freshwater fish, the use of closed recirculating systems, the wider context of information-based environmental governance in the US, and the creation of cooperatives and other socioeconomic organizations that helped farmers employ sustainable practices (Lozada 2012). This study will determine what aspects of this model can encourage Chinese fish farmers to use more sustainable practices.
This research contributes directly to two fields: food studies in China and sustainability. In terms of food studies, aquaculture is an important part of China’s food system, a system that has been under significant pressure and scrutiny (Zhang et.al. 2014). In China, while annual per capita meat consumption increased about 43% from 1981 to 2004, fish products increased 72% (Dong & Fuller, 2010). Yet food security and safety continues to be a significant source of social unrest, as Yan (2012) concludes in his examination of food tampering and social insecurity. Klein (2013) finds that Chinese consumers, producers, and sellers have forged new connections of trust driven by particularistic connections.
In terms of sustainability, this research will focus on social and cultural initiatives that can supplement both government and market approaches. Subasinghe et.al. (2009) assert that what is most needed to make aquaculture sustainable is better management of production by the producers themselves through a combination of good governance and self-regulation – a combination best achieved by expanding the flow of information through social networks of producer associations, consumers and other social groups (see also Pullin et.al. 2007). Smith et.al. (2010) further argue that aquaculture’s tight coupling to ecosystems and dependence on common-pool resources make government policies insufficient in creating incentives for sustainable aquaculture, but there are possibilities in initiatives such as certification and direct sourcing. While there is skepticism among my Chinese colleagues for this approach, they have expressed a willingness to try to implement such an approach.
Preliminary fieldwork conducted in the summers of 2013 and 2014 suggest that Chinese fish farmers do not face the same challenges as the small-scale fish farmers in North Carolina that I studied earlier. Of particular note, aquaculture cooperatives in China do not have the same strengths for promoting sustainability that American ones have (especially market-based tools such as shared purchases of capital-intensive equipment and group certification). Chinese cooperatives do have other features (closer connections to policy makers and enforcers) that may stimulate more widespread sustainable practices. As a result, this study will focus on the connections between local state agencies, cooperatives, producers and consumers. Due to the high visibility in China of food scandals such as the 2008 tainted milk issue, traceability has become an important aspect of food safety in the distribution chain. In China, however, there are inherent problems of trust in technological solutions, making particularistic social networks an important part of food safety strategies. Ethnographic documentation of the commodity chain from producers to consumers may reveal different ways in which trust in ethical and sustainable food producers can be expanded.

Filed Under: Anthropology, Environment, Featured, Food

Video report from the field

July 7, 2014 By Fuji

I’m still in Shanghai with the AN/Freeman Student Faculty Fellows – Director of Sustainability and colleague Jeff Mittelstadt, and students Tom DeMarzo, Antonia Giles, Xiaoyun Liu, John-Michael Murphy, Lucy Sexton, and Liz Stevens. We’re still in the midst of collecting up stories of sustainable farming/food and footage to show those stories. In the meanwhile, enjoy this short clip put together by Jeff Mittelstadt.

Filed Under: Anthropology, China, Food, Media, YWW

Summer Internship: Davidson Farmers Market

January 29, 2014 By Fuji

dfm

Application: Due 15 February

Looking for a summer internship? The Davidson Farmer’s Market is hiring! The application is attached, and see below for more information!

Position: DFM SUMMER INTERN

Description: The DFM Summer intern will support the Market Manager with preparations for the weekly market as outline below, and on Market Day (Saturdays). The intern will gain experience with all facets of Farmer’s Market management.

Responsibilities: The intern will assist with general market preparations (weekly newsletter, market set up, staffing the DFM table, vendor issues, chef demos, market take down), attend farm visits, help plan educational programs, coordinate market volunteers and facilitate recruitment, maintain the special events schedule, attend DFM Board and Committee meetings, research and draft grant proposals, and perform general administrative or office tasks

Duration: 12 weeks (start and end dates are flexible), approx. 36 hours/week

Wage/Salary: Stipend for food and living expenses from a grant through the Civic Engagement Office

Email questions and applications to Courtney Spear at info@davidsonfarmersmarket.org

Application

Filed Under: Davidson College, Food

YWW: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA, TED talk

May 16, 2013 By Fuji

Meal in Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, Russia, 2004

Just like 26.5 million other Americans, I live in a food desert, South Central Los Angeles, home of the drive-thru and the drive-by. Funny thing is, the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys. People are dying from curable diseases in South Central Los Angeles. For instance, the obesity rate in my neighborhood is five times higher than, say, Beverly Hills, which is probably eight, 10 miles away.

Ron Finley, on TED.com

Thanks, Will, for sharing this TED talk with me.

Filed Under: Anthropology, Food, YWW

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 10
  • Next Page »


Eriberto P. Lozada Jr. is Associate Dean of Faculty, Professor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies, and Director of the Crosland Center for Teaching & Learning. He is a sociocultural anthropologist who has examined contemporary issues in Chinese society ranging from: religion and politics; food, popular culture and globalization; sports and society issues; and the cultural impact of science and technology. more...

Crosland Center for Teaching & Learning
Davidson College
Davidson, NC 28035 USA

office: Little Library 1005
tel. 704-894-2035
erlozada [at] davidson.edu

Make the digital work for you

Essential Tools (mostly free) (Updated, 16 March 2017) Technological literacy (something I really need to define later) is essential to getting things done in today’s mediated world. There are a lot of useful applications out there that will cut back on the tears or punched walls late in the semester. Below are some of the […]

Meet with Me

RSS shanghaiist

  • Travelers from 8 more countries will be quarantined upon arrival in Shanghai
  • Britannica Online Open Day, an Access to an Offer Letter Now

RSS anthro{dendum}

  • Anthrodendum, the revival
  • Unexpected happiness in virtual spaces.

Men’s Lacrosse at Davidson

The Davidson College Men's Lacrosse team is a member of the Southeastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC) and competes in Division II of the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association.

Tweets by @thefieldworker

Copyright © 2021 Eriberto P. Lozada Jr. · Davidson College