Reflections on the Transdisciplinary Research Process: Integrating Biology, Society, and the Environment in the Food, Culture, and Health Study.
The Food, Culture, and Health Study (FCHS; PI: Ferguson) in the Culture and Family Life Lab at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities aimed to explore associations among acculturation, advertising and media use, and nutrition in the Black Immigrant communities in Miami and Somali Refugee communities in Minneapolis. The FCHS is a transdisciplinary study with experts from areas of advertising and media, developmental and cross-cultural psychology, and nutrition on the team. Due to COVID-19, the study was adapted for online administration. The FCHS collected data through an online survey taken by participants in zoom rooms, and then 3 different interview types including mother interviews, teen interviews, and combined family interviews. Beginning as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in Spring 2021 allowed me to follow the FCHS through a multitude of its phases, including co-authorship on two manuscripts intended for publication: “Growing closer to the place where I was born: Remote Enculturation among Black Immigrant Adolescents in the United States” and "When a Pivot Becomes a Dance: Conducting Cross-Cultural Community-Based Participatory Research Online with Black Immigrant and Refugee Families During Dual Pandemics." The inter-relation of these co-authorships and my work in the FCHS creates space for a deep dive into my work on the papers, reflections on the process of research in the CFL lab, as well as the writing and process of submission for each paper. As a Biology, Society, and the Environment major, I will also explore the deep interconnectedness of the FCHS and my work in the major.