2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
When Food is Risky: Food Allergies in Japan and the UK
| Project/Area Number |
16K03211
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
COOK EMMA 北海道大学, メディア・コミュニケーション研究院, 准教授 (90745788)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | food allergy / medical anthropology / affect and emotion / embodiment |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In this previous year (2017) I have continued to work in close collaboration with people on the experience of food allergies. In Japan I have attended NPO workshops, events, and a summer camp where I undertook continuing participant-observation on the social experiences of food allergies in the Japanese context. I also ran a workshop for ten teenagers with food allergies at the summer camp in order to provide more support for them - and to learn what support they need - as they learn to cope independently with their allergies in wider society. I gave a public lecture at the NPO in July on the topic of food allergies in the UK and Japan. Moreover, I helped organise and provided some interpretation at the 2nd Asian Alliance for Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis (AAFAA) meeting that took place in Tokyo in February 2018. In the UK I interviewed adults and parents of children with food allergies and in the summer of 2017 I interviewed 13 individuals with food allergies and spent time at the Wellcome library collecting materials on food allergy research.
In addition, I attended Japanese and European Allergy and Immunology Conferences in Tokyo, Helsinki and London. At these meetings I have had the chance to talk with allergists and immunologists to understand their experiences of food allergies in medical practice.
I have been invited to give talks in Tokyo and at the University of Michigan and have presented my preliminary findings at both domestic and international conferences. I have also had an article published on food allergies in the Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
2017 was a productive year, with research going smoothly in both Japan and the UK. I have continued to work in close collaboration with the NPO in Tokyo, including giving a talk and organising a teenager workshop as well as conducting ongoing participant observation fieldwork. In the UK I have ongoing good relationships with the organisation 'Allergy UK', who have helped me find individuals to interview and have introduced me to medical practitioners (allergists and immunologists) at European Allergy conferences.
As well as presenting preliminary findings in Tokyo, Osaka, Lisbon, Michigan, and Washington, I have published an article titled “Risk and Affective Co-ordination: Food Allergy Experiences in the UK,” which was published in the Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology (JRCA) 18(1): 129-142.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the upcoming year I will continue to work closely with the NPO in Japan. We are planning to organise a teenage workshop - a full day of events and classes aimed at teenagers in Japan - as well as events for teenagers at the yearly summer camp. In addition to ongoing participant-observation I will conduct formal interviews with the organisers of the NPO and their board as well as individuals who attend a 'Papa Food Allergy Group' in order to have a deeper understanding of men's experiences of their children's food allergies. I will also conduct interviews with attendees and volunteers at the yearly summer camp.
In the UK I plan to do follow up interviews with individuals I interviewed in 2016 and 2017 as well as new individuals. I also plan to spend time with Allergy UK to understand their operations and the support they provide. I also plan to interview medical practitioners and patient advocacy organisations at the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting to be held in Copenhagen in October.
Aside from ongoing field research, I plan to submit the draft of a paper called “Embodied Memory and Affective Imagination: Food Allergy Tracking in Japan” to an international peer reviewed journal such as Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness.
This year I also plan to write a book proposal for submission to either Duke University Press or to California University Press, and will also work on drafting the book chapters.
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| Causes of Carryover |
In order to ensure that I have enough travel funds for the final year of my grant I held back 100,000 yen in H29 in order to use it in H30.
I plan to use the 100,000 yen to pay for the airfare to Copenhagen in October to attend the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Meeting held by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
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