Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Kumari Sherreitt Dr. Aya Kimura gave a lecture yesterday about the academic discussion of malnutrition in Third World countries, which she says is observed through the "narrow lens" of science. [Click to enlarge]

Dr. Aya Kimura, an associate professor of women's studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, held a lecture yesterday, cautioning against the scientific approach to Third World malnutrition.

The focus of Kimura's research revolves around the problem of nutritionilization - the changing discussion of the malnourishment in the Third World. In the past, Indonesia, a nation where 80 million people live below the poverty line, has served as the site for her case study.

Nutritionilization, she said, is "framing (the food problem) as a nutritional problem to create a space for jurisdiction."

As the description of the problems of hunger began to shift, a new perspective started to emerge. Known as "from hunger to hidden hunger," this outlook addresses the shift from the lack of food, to its quality and the utilization of micronutrients. Nutrition, then, is given new authority by the scholars at the forefront of health science.

According to Kimura's research, academic conversations about the need for certain nutrients differ from discussions about the need for food.

Kimura's research asks why the nation decided that fortification of instant noodles and MSG with vitamin A and iron is the most effective and best-suited solution to the malnutrition problem, even though these are both not traditional parts of the population's diet.

The lecture was hosted by the Center of Southeast Asian Studies, as part of the Brown Bag series.

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