Research
I am currently conducting SoTL research based on data I collected in my Culture & Society courses during AY 2018-2019. This IRB-approved study focuses on the mechanisms through which students come to challenge their ethnocentrism and internalize cultural relativism.
Tamil Nadu
In this article, I draw on Foucauldian concepts of knowledge, discourse, and power to explore comparisons Tamils in Madurai provided for valuing country chicken over broiler chicken, and the extent to which these comparisons level critiques against globalization.
Presentations
> Assessing Anthropology Students’ Adoption of Cultural Relativism Reference Chera, Madeline. 2019. “Judging Non-Judgement: Assessing Anthropology Students’ Adoption of Cultural Relativism,” 20th Annual Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Indiana University South Bend, South Bend, IN, April 2019.
Food Studies
In this review article, I discuss the third volume in a comprehensive three-volume set about methods in interdisciplinary Food Studies research, considering how the book could be used effectively as a reference and guide for students.
Tamil Nadu
Susan Seizer and I co-authored a paper using our two specialty foci to discuss the socio-linguistic significance of the inclusive "we" and "our" in Tamil culture.
Gender
I shared research on young women college students in Tamil Nadu and their views on global and local food systems at the Transecting Healthy and Sustainable Food in the Asia-Pacific Workshop, at Yale-National University of Singapore, in August 2018.
Presentations
Multiple Ideologies in Local and Traditional Food Advocacy in Tamil Nadu, India
Tamil Nadu
Drawing on ethnographic evidence collected through field research in and around the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, this paper explores how the particularities of Tamil history and cultural values shape the current confused status of millets there.
Anthropology
I received funding and support from the Fulbright program for the second part of my dissertation research in India, in the 2015-2016 round of fellowship competitions.
Presentations
> Exploring the Relationship Between Tamil Folk Dietetics and Nutrition Science Reference Chera, Madeline. 2015. "Granny's Legitimacy: Exploring the Relationship Between Tamil Folk Dietetics & Nutrition Science." Paper presented in "Nutritional Practices & Cultural Models of Health," Society for the Anthropology of Food &
Presentations
> Notes on Snack Culture in South India Reference Chera, Madeline. 2015. “Between Meals and Meanings: Notes on Snack Culture in South India.” Paper presented in "Place, Consumption, and Health," at the Association for the Study of Food and Society and Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society joint
Food Studies
This encyclopedia entry provides an overview of contentious issues related to intellectual property rights (IPRs).