Thought for Food: The Chinese Cultural Relationship with Food and Animals

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dc.contributor.advisorJiang, Hong
dc.contributor.authorRhame, LiEllen Mary
dc.contributor.departmentGeography
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-02T23:42:22Z
dc.date.available2024-07-02T23:42:22Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.degreeM.A.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/108377
dc.subjectGeography
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subjectAnimal Attitudes
dc.subjectChinese Culture
dc.subjectMeat-Eating
dc.titleThought for Food: The Chinese Cultural Relationship with Food and Animals
dc.typeThesis
dcterms.abstractStereotypes of cruel culinary practices and animal abuse within Chinese culture are misrepresentative of the culture and its relationship with animals. Much of the previous literature shows that the Chinese public holds positive attitudes toward animals and their welfare. Therefore, this study aims to explore the human-animal relationship through meat-eating and examine the factors within participants’ lived experiences that might play a role in shaping attitudes toward animals. Through an interpretive phenomenological lens and an explanatory sequential mixed methodology, 30 international academics from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong residing in the U.S. at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa completed a questionnaire on attitudes toward animal welfare called the Animal Attitude Scale (AAS) and semi-structured interviews about exposure to animals, diet habits, and reasons for their answers to the AAS. Following the formulation of a codebook, two overarching themes were emergent. The first was Diet Habits and the second was Animal Ethics. The findings of the theme Diet Habits centered around family being integral in participants’ cooking, eating, and shopping habits through compliance with family habits as well as the influence of female family members on these habits. In the Animal Ethics theme, it was found that exposure and interaction with animals and knowledge of animal welfare or environmental concerns did not influence diet alterations due to those concerns. The AAS statements were then placed into categories combined with participants’ reasoning for their answers. Based on data from the qualitative interviews it was found that family was largely integral in determining the diet habits and animal exposure of participants. Additionally, participants understood that taking advantage of animal resources was unjust, however, they could not imagine a world in which that did not occur. This sentiment played a role in the participants’ overall moderate concern for animal welfare on the AAS. The hope is that the results of this study can open a door to understanding Chinese culture and the relationship between food and animals through a more personal and experience-oriented lens. Via this lens, future studies can begin to provide a more accurate and detailed depiction of factors surrounding Chinese attitudes toward animals. Additionally, future studies in psychology and cultural geography should approach the topic of human-animal interaction via multi-disciplinary and mixed methodology to open the door to new and exciting findings that may not emerge by staying in their own lane.
dcterms.extent107 pages
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Hawai'i at Manoa
dcterms.rightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.typeText
local.identifier.alturihttp://dissertations.umi.com/hawii:12202

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