Burning Questions
Fellowship Award Winners

Alexandra Navarro

Location: Argentina
Academic field: Communications and journalism
Award category: PhD Holder

Guidance Memo

• Title (Spanish): “ALIMENTACIÓN Y CULTURA EN ARGENTINA: Percepciones sobre dietas basadas en plantas, estigmatización del veganismo y desafíos actuales del activismo para reducir (y terminar) con el consumo de animales."
• DOI (Spanish): 10.15868/socialsector.36762
• Title (English): "FOOD AND CULTURE IN ARGENTINA: Perceptions of plant-based diets, stigmatization of veganism and current challenges of activism to reduce (and end) animal consumption."
• DOI (English): 10.15868/socialsector.36571
• Keywords: Argentina. Meat consumption. Veganism.
• What We Learned From It:
  • Fundamental cultural drivers of meat consumption in Argentina include: 1) Powerful belief system in favor of eating meat. 2) Deep stigmatization of veganism. 3) Pervasive narratives and behavior justifying meat-eating that most people consider as “common sense” and which are sustained by institutions (e.g. healthcare, legal, education systems).
  • Current strategies of vegan activists in Argentina hinder rather than help reduce/end meat consumption.
  • An array of big and small practical measures to tackle these challenges are suggested in the Guidance Memo. They range from influencing school curricula and training teachers, to professionalizing the vegan activist community (e.g. encourage them to show awareness of academic experts and the latest research when they do media interviews).

Links

• Read the Guidance Memo – Spanish
• Read the Guidance Memo – English
• Read the Annotated Bibliography – Spanish and English

Some of the Things We Really Liked when We Read the Application

• Issues pertaining to a particular low- and middle-income country /region are explained by a researcher who resides in that country /region.
• Addresses the thorny issue of meat and plant consumption within a specific country, region, culture. Decreasing society’s meat consumption is often advocated as essential if industrial-scale facilities are to be curbed. But this is incredibly challenging. Such consumption is partly but strongly driven by local culture, customs, and circumstances. That means one needs to understand and handle each place on its own terms. Alexandra’s Guidance Memo will contribute to a better understanding of what’s happening and what can be done in Argentina and Latin America.

A Few Words from the Winner
“To have won this fellowship means to me an invaluable recognition and confidence in my ability to offer solutions to the problems that we face. It means the opportunity to share the knowledge that I have developed in my doctoral research, and it represents the opportunity of sharing academic knowledge with those who will be able to work on real solutions. It is an honor to me being the voice in Latin America that highlights the problems and tensions we face regarding meat consumption. I encourage researchers who are currently working on key issues for future generations to make all possible contributions to reach the best solutions.” (Alexandra Navarro)