ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES TO FOOD INSECURITY WITHIN THE CHUUKESE COMMUNITY OF GUAM

Abstract

Food insecurity is a well-researched phenomenon that not only describes the reduced quality, variety, and desirability of dietary decisions, but also the accessibility of nutritional foods, the duration of food shortage, and the acquisition of foods in socially acceptable ways. While the nutritional impacts of food insecurity have been researched in Guam, the adaptive strategies of food insecure communities, such as the Guam’s Chuukese community, have yet to be explored. This study explored the adaptive strategies utilized within members of the Chuukese community of Guam, as well as the adaptive strategies traditionally utilized in Chuuk. Recommendations on how identified adaptive strategies can be of use to education and support programs were also identified.

The USDA U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module identified the primary food preparers within insecure households within the Chuukese community. From those identified, nine participants were interviewed using basic interpretive and constant comparative qualitative methodology with prepared open-ended interview guides. Interviews were coded in Atlas.ti, and thematic categories were formed through an iterative process with multiple rounds of investigative triangulation. Emergent themes revealed by participants identified adaptive strategies that highlighted the differences between Chuuk’s traditional subsistence agriculture economy, which emphasized familial and communal networks, and the personal impact of living in Guam’s current cash economy.

Participants navigated such obstacles to food security by enacting strategies that (1) optimized resources outside the household, such as foraging, gathering and fishing (where possible), gifting and sharing, food banks, and government assistance; (2) lowered food costs in response to the cash economy; (3) performed entrepreneurship for supplemental income; and (4) managed food supply with previously acquired resources. Due to the repeated emphasis on subsistence culture and the strain of a western cash economy, these findings indicate that the food security of the Chuukese community would be improved by targeted urban agricultural and agroforestry practices.