More Food, Less Nutrition: K’iche’ Maya Foodways - Nutrimetics and Food Realities

Abstract

K'iche' Mayan women from Iximulew (Guatemala) have one of the highest global rates of stunted growth, as well as high rates of maternal mortality and anemia. These health aspects are related to food issues. This dissertation attempts to elucidate the intricate interplay between K’iche’ Maya women's understanding and food interactions. This dissertation discusses the cultural interplay between people and food, food and contexts, and contexts and people. Through ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation describes food as a relational phenomenon. K'iche' women's lifeworlds, their environments, new food products, crop processes, Maya biology, and the K'iche' language of food dynamically interact to shape Indigenous foodways. By employing an integrated framework from medical anthropology, nutritional science, and decolonial perspectives, this dissertation gives insights that can promote health and nutrition for Maya people from a theoretical and pragmatic perspective.