Transcription
Welcome to Snap-a-Shots, conversations with professional, practicing, and applied anthropologists.
I started off studying ethnomedicine and I was looking at kind of the intersections between biological medicine, so people who were going to, you know, doctors and so forth, mental health specialists and so forth, but also looking at some of their cultural uh forms of healing like kuranderismo and Santeria and so forth. And so I was pursuing um a PhD in in basically ethnomedicine, cultural competent, cultural competence in medicine. And that was uh very interesting to me, especially because of my family background. I had a mother who grew up with polio and was being treated both, you know, her biological doctors but also cultural healers and so forth. So that, that's kind of where I started.
I ended up however, uh, by accident, in food. And food is also a form of nourishment, you know, it food is medicine, it's healing. And so now I'm actually practicing um through a corporation with a corporation and doing u basically consumer research. And food, growing up economically disadvantaged, really teaches you about how people are very savvy and very innovative in how they approach approach situations. In this case, food um really helps you understand that really great food is coming from the people themselves. It's not about chefs. It's not about industry. It's from the people themselves, and a lot, a lot of times that's women as well. So I think that's a very powerful thing that I learned as a young person. And then to to take that even further, I would say like my grandmas were my cultural kindergarten. And so that's definitely where I would say that I learned so much about food, uh, my own culture and other cultures, and how you are able to make magic in a kitchen that has very much influenced how I study food today.
Wow. There are so many moments that really changed the way that I I value anthropology and the way I practice anthropology. I think one of my most powerful projects has been working with the local youth um in the small town that the company I work for is located. And um the youth are immigrants. They are first-generation to the country, and they are trying to learn to navigate, right, American culture, but of course, they're wanting to preserve their culture and to share their culture. And so I was able to work with them in terms of uh doing a small ethnographic field school regarding food and regarding their food and how do they see food and what is the role of food in their culture um, not just functionally, but uh, culturally, emotionally. And so being able to help guide those students in the practice really taught me um everything that anthropology can bring to bear to having people represented, representing themselves um, in different scenarios, in this case, food culture. So that was really powerful.
And I think my other example is was doing research with cancer patients and being able to see people who are literally physically struggling with food. And so speaking with them about their food challenges and having people tell stories where they're like, I used to love this, now I can't eat it anymore, you know, 'cause I'm having this treatment and it tastes metallic and so forth. It showed me how valuable it is to be empathetic um, regarding things like food, regarding a bunch of sensitive issues. So those two things, I would say, is just being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes really shakes your foundation. You think, okay, I'm empathetic. I'm doing my job. I'm interested. I'm curious. But when you really see some of these issues that people are up against and in terms of trying to navigate um, culture, it's very powerful. And that has changed me fundamentally as an anthropologist to make sure that I'm always an advocate um, for the people that I study.
Working in business um, in a business setting is very, very different from working in an academic setting or other types of setting. um, they have their own language, their own way of doing things, their own idea of what results matter. So I think it's been an interesting and fun challenge to be able to learn to speak the language of business, but also to help my business learn about anthropological frameworks and how we can see things differently. um, how we can take a more empathetic view, and how that empathetic view can be used to fuel innovation, um, fuel insights, and really drive results. And so it's really not about me learning what they do or them learning what I do, but it's about uh, being able to synchronize and hybridize and really be able to get the best of both worlds so that we're bringing better food um, to people. And ultimately, that's that's really what I want to do.
So there's that professional challenge in the the environment, but the bigger thing and the most important thing is I want to make sure that people have uh nutritionally dense, meaningful, culturally meaningful, and high-quality food that all people have access to that. So that's my really big challenge in the work that I do is making sure that my employer understands that we need a variety of products that meet different price points for different types of people. We also need variety in terms of uh products that are culturally resonant. And that's the biggest thing that I do is really making sure that those products get to people. And in in in addition to that, um, the the big thing is putting that consumer voice at the forefront of everything that we do and making sure that the consumer is able to be present in all our meetings and all our types of innovation and any type of insight meeting where their stories, their desires, their pain points are at the forefront of everything that we do.
So I'm going to go out there. I'm going to actually go and do classic ethnographic work. I'm going to be in a community. Sometimes I've lived on college campus, you know, for several weeks with students and hanging out and snacking and learning how they eat and so forth. So, I'm using a lot of those traditional tools like actual observation techniques, participant, you know, observation, and actually hanging out with students or hanging out with consumers, shopping with them, and so forth. So there's just a host of things that I'm I'm bringing to bear and act the actually doing research, but then you're doing the assessment and it's helping really get an idea of all of the types of issues that the consumers are facing, what they want to bring to bear. So that assessment of what's important, why it's important.
One of the most powerful tools is the storytelling. How do you translate all these stories? How do you translate all of um, the consumer, the consumer's desires again, and those pain points? How do you translate that to a team who has to solve uh, these issues and has to really understand the consumer on a in a deep level? So you have to be a good storyteller. You have to be succinct. um, and you have to be dynamic to inspire your teams to even greater products for your consumers.
The thing that I did not know about anthropology as a student was its ability to be applied. Now, I did understand that, don't get me wrong, I understand that in terms of cultural competence in medicine, that had been something that I heard a lot about, but I didn't understand that there was so many different things that you could do with anthropology. I didn't realize that I could get into a business um, environment and do anthropology. um, I didn't realize people were in tech doing anthropology or people were doing international development and using their anthropology degree in this way. I was in this mindset that an anthropologist became an academic and was a professor. um, but I didn't realize there were boots-on-the-ground anthropologists who were doing things that you wouldn't, I, at least I didn't conceive of at that time. Now I'm like, wow, anthropologists are helping build autonomous vehicles. Anthropologists are helping study science in space. um, anthropologists are helping produce food. Who knew? And so that was really a revelation to me, even after getting my PhD. So I just am very happy to have found uh, Napa and finding a place of practicing anthropologists and expanding the aperture for what anthropologists can and do already.
There's so many things that I'd like to pass on, but first of all is stay curious. Even when um, it's hard to stay curious, right? You might be in an environment that doesn't necessarily nurture curiosity sometimes, but I'd like like to have people maintain their curiosity, maintain their creativity. With technology and so many other things in politics, it's kind of hard to do that sometimes, but I think that's kind of the bread and butter of anthropologists is that they're curious. um, also that there's a lot of diversity representation amongst anthropologists and we need to keep taking those seats. We need to make sure that different types of people, whether it be gender or ethnicity and otherwise, are represented in the field. So making sure that we're advocates in that respect. So I think that's a very important thing. But I think most and foremost is that you're always um, empathetic and uh, a storyteller of the people or issues that you study. um, whether it's in an academic role or whether it's in a practice role, that that is first and foremost is making sure that you're protecting, upholding, and being um, being as accurate as possible and as safe as possible with the people that you are doing research with.
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Snap-a-Shots.