Email: malena@live.unc.edu
Phone:
Office:
403B Alumni Building
Area of Interest:
biological anthropology; medical anthropology; biocultural approaches to studying health and disease; human biology; social epidemiology; disease ecology; osteology; bioarchaeology; Latin American studies
Education:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Entered program in 2005, Anthropology
East Carolina University; Greenville, North Carolina
M.A., July 2005, Anthropology with concentration in Biological Anthropology
Duke University; Durham, North Carolina
B.A., May 2002, Biological Anthropology and Anatomy
Minor – Sociology, Certificate – Human Development
Research & Activities:
Dissertation Research: Fair Trade Health in the Ecuadorian Flower Growing Industry
I am a biological/biocultural anthropologist who studies the effects of globalization and poverty on health. My research focuses on the fair trade flower-growing industry in Ecuador and the degree to which, if at all, fair trade standards improve the health and wellbeing of flower plantation employees and their household members. I use a mixed methods approach that combines ethnographic methods with various measures of health and wellbeing including questionnaires, anthropometry, and blood biomarkers. These methods all me to compare the livelihoods and perceptions of health and wellbeing for fair trade, non-fair trade, and former flower plantation employees with those who have no experience with the flower industry. My research sites are located in the villages and towns of the flower-growing region near Cayambe, Ecuador where flower farms are the primary sources of employment.