IU Students

Student Affiliates

Lydia Atubeh

EdD Curriculum and Instruction (Art Education)

latubeh@iu.edu

Research Interests
Agriculture, farmers, sustainability, communities, health, Visual Arts and Art Education

Eavy Barbieux

Master of Public Affairs-MS of Environmental Science, O'Neill School for Public and Environmental Affairs

ebarbieux43@gmail.com

Eavy is a graduate student with a focus on urban ecology and sustainable agriculture. She's particularly interested in the complex role our agro-food systems have in building resilience in our cities and communities, particularly within the context of the climate crisis. Her past research has spanned farmer demographic trends, biocontrol in organic systems, and urban food insecurity. Recently, she has turned her focus to a policy and community-oriented approach to food justice and currently works as the Food Advocacy Fellow at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.

Research Interests
Food security, policy, justice, equity, agriculture, climate, sustainability, environment, networks

Elissa Booras

MA in Food Studies, Department of Anthropology

ebooras@iu.edu

My research experience is in food access and equity, having worked on initiatives based in Indianapolis regarding food insecurity and availability. This has sparked my interest in food justice and food assistance. I'm also interested in exploring food as a commodity, informed by my previous experience in the coffee industry where I've done everything from roasting small-batch coffee to managing a coffee shop.

Research Interests
Food security, assistance, justice, equity, commodity

Daniel Fobi

PhD Student, Geography

dfobi@iu.edu

I am interested in food production, access and distribution in urban Africa. I try to explore how street vendors and supermarkets play their separate but also overlapping roles to feed the growing African urban population. I am also interested in conservation agriculture, and trying to work with farmers to understand how they adopt new farm management technologies and what barriers hampers their ability to adopt. My research is in urban Africa, specifically in Accra - Ghana and I will need support to be connected with other scholars who are also working in Africa. Also, my travelling expenses to conduct research in Accra in the summers can be supported.

Research Interests
Food security, agriculture, farmers, climate, sustainability, environment, technology

Ariana Gunderson

Anthropology PhD Student

agunder@iu.edu

Ariana is an Anthropology PhD Student studying the German recipe industry. Her research explores the means by which ephemeral food experiences are entextualized and sold for profit in cookbooks, magazines, food TV, and the digital sphere. She's recently taken up analog photography, and she's on the board of the Graduate Association for Food Studies.

Research Interests
Food economics, culture, recipes, eating, food media

Bradi Heaberlin

PhD Student in Geography & Informatics

bmheaber@iu.edu

Bradi studies the intersections of race, technology, and labor in the poultry sector of the U.S. South. Drawing on histories and theories of racial capitalism and science and technology studies, they are interested in the ways in which the rise of logistical technologies in global supply chain networks furthered the dispossession of residents of rural and urban hinterlands. They are also interested in the forms of freedom and resistance that supply chain workers craft and imagine in everyday life.

Research Interests
Food trade, agriculture, farmers, environment, communities, technology

Lewis Hughes

Food Studies MA, Department of Anthropology

hugheril@iu.edu

Lewis Hughes is an anthropology graduate student in the Food Studies program studying global food systems and regenerative agriculture. He spent the past decade working in the organic agriculture industry as a grower, food hub operator and educator and has conducted research on farming methods in Asia, Europe and throughout the US. Lewis is interested in connecting food producers with eaters in more equitable and efficient ways (Value Chain Coordination) and the user identities created by various food distribution models.

Research Interests
Food economics, trade, commodity, agriculture, farmers, climate, sustainability, environment, networks, communities, cuisine

Suyash Kumar Neupane

PhD Student, Folklore and Ethnomusicology

sneupan@iu.edu

Suyash Kumar is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, with a minor in Food Anthropology. Suyash is currently doing his dissertation research in Birgunj, an economic hub in Southern Nepal, focusing on the intersection of food and music in festivals, restaurants, and homely settings. He is mainly interested in seeing what the intersection and application of food anthropology and sound studies has to offer in terms of understanding the culinary and musical traditions of Nepal. He hopes to establish a community centered digital project highlighting everyday life, food and music of Birgunj, Nepal. Read more on his personal website.

Research Interests
Food communities, cuisine, food and the senses; gastromusicology; intersection of food and music

Homa Taheri

htaheri@iu.edu

My research is on international trade. I am exploring ideas for working on the effect of trade on access to food. I teach introductory level microeconomics at the Kelley School of Business.

Research Interests
Food security, economics, trade, agriculture, climate, environment, networks

Wesley Zebrowski

PhD in Public Affairs, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

wzebrows@iu.edu

Wes is a queer, interdisciplinary researcher who studies food systems primarily at the intersection of agricultural policy and farmer behavior, especially as it applies to disadvantaged or unempowered farmer groups. For their dissertation, Wes is evaluating the potential discrimination in US farmer aid programs and the economic and environmental consequences of rate setting in the US Conservation Reserve Program. Wes specializes in using big data quantitative methods, network analysis, and GIS to evaluate public policy and farmer behavior in a variety of agricultural landscapes.

Research Interests
Food policy, justice, equity, economics, agriculture, farmers, climate, sustainability, environment, networks, communities, governance

IU Food Institute

IU Students

Student Affiliates

Lydia Atubeh

Eavy Barbieux

Elissa Booras

Daniel Fobi

Ariana Gunderson

Bradi Heaberlin

Lewis Hughes

Suyash Kumar Neupane

Homa Taheri

Wesley Zebrowski

The College of Arts & Sciences

IU Students

Student Affiliates

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