S E C T I O N N E W S November 2001 Anthropology News

theory, methods and examples of applied nutri- tional anthropology research in nutrition educa- tion. Perez-Escamilla spoke on pecllatric obesity and the importance of culture in understanding the determinants of obesity and in the develop ment of interventions. Sellen talked about the usefulness of ethnography studies in infant and child nutrition research and program develop ment. And Reeves ’httle gave a very insightful talk on what happens when the culture and needs of a target population are not taken into account when conducting community nutrition research. While we often don’t like to talk about our research failures, Reeves Tuffle was brave enough to discuss one such failure in her research in a Maori community in New Zealand. Her take- home message was that anthropology should be part of nutrition research and that nutrition stu- dents should have some training in anthropob gy. In the end, the audience was very enthusias- tic and several questions followed the presenta- tions. As a result of the success of t h i s session, I hope

to increase our communication with professional societies such as SNE and explore other avenues of collaboration between nutritional anthropolo- gy and other nutrition fields. The time is ripe for anthropology to take on increasing prominence in the areas of health promotion and disease pre- vention. One way of achieving this prominence is for the CNA to showcase the work of its mem- bers at the conferences and in the journals of other disciplines.

Food Web Site of the Month In this time of need remembe~ the big picture. Go to www.secondharvestorg and www.thehungmite. com.

Don’t finget to send your news, notices, reseanh and training opportunities, confmence announcements and all other gems that would be of interest to our re&. My address is: Dept ofSoc/Anth, St. John% U, 8000 Utopia Pkny Jamaica, NY 1 1439; t e l 7 1 8 B 5662; fau 71 8pW-5878; brentonb@tjohns.edu. - Culture and Agriculture Section STEPHEN R MORIN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

On-Farm Conservation of Agrobiadiveoity A workshop dealmg with “In-situ Conservation of Agrobiodiversity, Review Workshop: Scientific and Institutional Experiences and Implications for National Policies” was held Aug 1417,2001, in Lima, Peru. Participants from around the globe came to discuss the challenges that face farmers and policy makers interested in maintaining crop diversity in the future. The workshop, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera- tion, had four main objectives: 0 To systematize and analyze the lessons learned

about farmers’ management of crop genetic

diversity through several recent and ongoing project studies;

0 To compare and contrast the methods used in documenting in-situ conservation on farms;

0 To analyze the impact of sodoeconomic trans- formations and environmental change on local maintenance practices; and

0 To analyze the impact of national and local policies on local maintenance of crop diversity.

The workshop proper was further subdivided into four sessions: 0 Lessons learned about farmer management of

0 Methodological lessons learned; 0 Lessons learned on sustainability of in-situ con-

servation; and 0 Impact of national and local policies on local

maintenance. Here is a review of some of the papers presented at the workshop:

The paper “Varietal Dominance and Cultural Salience: Lessons Learnt from In-situ Mainte- nance of Sweet potato Diversity in Man Jaya,” by Gordon Prain from C e n b v l n ~ de la Papa (CIP) and co-authors, illustrated the importance of understanding how farmers choose sweet potato varieties. Farmers’ criteria for varietal selec- tion of crops and the land area devoted to each variety are important issues affecting on-farm genetic diversity.

The Mi@ farming system, which hosts signifi- cant crop genetic diversity, has been central to the lives of many Mexican farmers. Calvin Qualset (UC-Davis) and co-authors discussed the likely impact of introducing new crops and seed selection practices on this ancient system. Additional information can be found at www. grcp.ucdavis.edu, including a report titled “Les- sons Learned from a Comprehensive Study of In- situ Conservation and On-farm Improvement of Crops of the Milpa Farming System of Mexico.”

Steve Morin, from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), along with co-authors, showed how doublecropping of modem and tra- ditional rice varieties can be a competitive and feasible cropping pattern for farmers in Cagayan Valley, Philippines. He emphasized that local rice varieties increase farm incomes and ensure the conservation of farmer-valued traditional vari- eties. The presented paper “Building on Farmers’ Knowledge: Intensification with Local Rice Varieties in the Cagayan Valley, Philippines,” can be obtained from the section editor.

In his paper “Farmer Management of Sweet- potato Diversity in a Changing Livelihood Sys- tem: A Case from Central Luzon, Philippines,” Dindo CampiIan (CIP) illustrated how sweet potato intensification for specialized markets, coincidental with severe viral attacks of those marketed varieties, endangered the livelihood of farmers. It also threatened the basis of crop diver- sity among dtivars of sweet potatoes in the Philippines. In addition, he showed how crop diversity can enhance farmers’ livelihoods.

local agrobiodiversity;

I fyou have anything of in-, please send it to: Steve Mm’n, SSO, IRRI, MCPY) Box 3127, 1271 Makati

Civ, Philippines; tel 63-2 845-0563 ext 71 3 or (USA) 650/8334620 a t 71 3; fau 650B33-6621; s.morin@ c@ar.org or Melina S Magsumbol (m.magsumbol@ cgiar.0g.l.

East Ada Section ERIBERTO P LoZADA JR AND JOHN MCCREERY, CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Filipina ‘Entertainers”

By Sea-ling Cheng (Oxfbrd V) Women who cross borders to work as “entertain- ers” are, like any migrant group, cultural and social actors in the transnational field. According to Korean and Filipino activists, Filipina women have been “trafficked” since 1996 to serve Ameri- can soldiers in military camp towns (kijich’on) in Korea. “Rest ST Recreation’’ facilities for the US Forces in Korea (USFK), which includes up to 37,000 personnel, largely involve the provision of female company and sexual services around the bases. Korea’s economic advancement since the 1980s has led to a shortage of Korean women to serve these American soldiers both because of the stigma attached and the relatively low income. Similar to the need for cheap foreign labor in other small Korean enterprises, in the late 1990s kijich‘on clubs have resorted to women from the “Third World” such as Filipinas. I con- ducted research on these Filipina entertainers in kijich’on between Sept 1998 and Apr 2O00, visited =me of them in the Philippines in May 2000, and have maintained contact with them up to the present.

Trafficked Filipinas in Korea The nationalist project based on race and purity that relegates kijich’on women to the margins of society ensures that these Filipina entertainers can only fare worse in Korean society: not only are they working in a marginal space as prosti- tutes, they are also seen as foreigners from a developing nation without legitimacy in a society that Koreans have worked so hard to build.

Upon arrival in Korea, these Filipinas have practically no channel of redress for the abuses and exploitation they frequently face in kijich’on clubs. The club owners hold their passports upon arrival, and at least part of their salary is not paid until their departure to prevent them from run- ning away. Their yearlong contracts are arbitrari- ly amended or dismissed by club owners. NGOs in Korea and the Philippines identify these women as victims of trafficking, US militarism and global capitalism.

A Labor of Love My research shows, however, that transactions in kijich’on clubs are largely mediated through the idiom of romantic love. A concatenation of lies, truths and partial truths underline relationships between entertainers and their customers. For my informants, having a “boyfriend” means not

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