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Unpacking Dietary Acculturation Among New Americans: Results from Formative Research with African Refugees

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Abstract

Epidemiological studies focusing on Latino immigrant health have found links between acculturation (time and language competency), weight gain, and disease risk. Since time and language competency are not mechanisms by which diets and activities change, associations between acculturation and weight change offer little to public health professionals who aim to develop nutrition and health interventions. We present a conceptual model and use a mixed-methods biocultural approach to address the fine-grained details of diet and activity choice for new arrivals to the USA. The results of our anthropological work with Liberian and Somali Bantu refugees indicate that, in addition to standard surveys (individual-level characteristics, socioeconomic status, employment, and acculturation), epidemiological research would benefit from the data generated from ethnography and more nuanced behavioral studies. A focus on the lived experiences of new Americans and the explicit examination of institutional support, peer support, and interactions between children and caretakers might offer points of intervention for immigrant health which is a growing public health concern.

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Notes

  1. In this context, we are referring to economic migrants, those not born in the USA but who move to the USA for economic reasons; they are distinguished from refugees, who are afforded an official status through specific protocols of international and government agencies.

  2. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or unwilling to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country….” We specifically worked with refugees and did not work asylum seekers or internally displaced persons, therefore all interviews were with those officially recognized as refugees by the US government.

  3. This is not to suggest that refugees forget about friends or family. In actuality, nearly all the refugees interviewed stated that they were worried about family members at home or in camps and that the inability to send enough money to them was a burden. They also described the mismatch in their expectations and reality of resettlement in the USA. Refugees also mentioned that family members do not realize that life is hard for them in the USA.

  4. We do not assume that there is one definitive “American” diet but instead are referring to foods that are relatively fast to prepare, widely available, and energy-dense and recognize that the availability of these foods has increased globally. We certainly acknowledge that there are at least regional, seasonal, gender, religious, ethnic, and class differences in diets of people living in the United States but chose to use this term because research participants refer to diets as “American” and “African.”

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank the cooperative survey and interview participants as well as Ariel Burgess, Mukhtar Haji, Katie Hetjmanek, Alice and Julia Makor, Gedlu Metaferja, Heather Ross, Diane Rodriguez, Ann Rynearson, Erin Schelar and the very helpful staff at the International Institutes. Authors are grateful to E.T. Abrams, A.G. Young, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. CLP acknowledges a CIHR postdoctoral fellowship at which she had time to analyze interview data and write while working with Dr. Daniel W. Sellen (University of Toronto). CH, a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar, thanks the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health and Society Program for its financial support. The East Coast study was supported by the USDA Economic Research Service Small Grants Program. The Midwest study is supported by a National Science Foundation Award (#0519177).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology – BSB 2102 (MC 027), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W. Harrison Street, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Crystal L. Patil

  2. Department of Anthropology, Emory University, 207 Anthropology Building, 1557 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Craig Hadley

  3. School of Public Health (MPH Student, Graduation 12/07), St. Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63104, USA

    Perpetue Djona Nahayo

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  1. Crystal L. Patil
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Patil, C.L., Hadley, C. & Nahayo, P.D. Unpacking Dietary Acculturation Among New Americans: Results from Formative Research with African Refugees. J Immigrant Minority Health 11, 342–358 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9120-z

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