Faculty Profile
Anne Cafer
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Phone Number: (662)915-7421
Email: amcafer@olemiss.edu
http://socanth.olemiss.edu/anne-cafer/
Key Words:
Research Description: My research uses a systems approach (perhaps a legacy from my biology days) to examine social change around food procurement, agricultural systems, environmental sustainability, and health/nutrition at the community level, both domestically and internationally. These problems are complex in nature and require adaptive, context specific solutions, earning them the title ‘wicked’ problems. To examine these problems and work toward sustainable solutions to these problems I consistently work across disciplinary boundaries—engaging plant scientists, geographers, veterinary medicine specialists, economists, and public health professionals. I also have a (growing) interest in scholarship of teaching. I believe my research should inform my teaching, and I consistently work to bring research experiences and findings into the classroom. I also believe students learn best in an active learning environment guided by inquire based teaching. My goal is to help students develop a toolkit which includes critical thinking, logical reasoning, and a sociological imagination, regardless of background. I also teach courses which include a service learning component as a way of helping students develop empathy and practical research skills related to scientific inquiry.
Honors Theses:
Webb, Maura Isabella (2022) Trends in Prenatal Care Accessibility in Rural Mississippi and How these Trends affect Unfavorable Birth Outcomes (full text)
Saffold, Allen Bailey (2022) An Exploratory Look into the Effects of Mississippi's Population Decline on Rural Dental Care (full text)
Howell, Katie (2021) Measuring Food Consumption within a FoodRx Program (full text)
Available Research Projects:
Community Food Systems
Project Description: Working on developing a pilot program that will integrate a number of actors in the food system of Marks, MS. This project will look at obesity/nutrition, food insecurity, home gardening, agricultural production, and socio-economic context of food access. Students will work with local community members to implement various components of the project and collect data on impact. Students will also contribute to writing of policy briefs and research manuscripts of so desired.
Desired Student Qualifications: Good with microsoft office suite. Moderate interest in research design and methods.
Project Timeline: Dec 2017-Dec 2018
Duties of Student Researcher: Assist with data collection and data entry. Help with writing and public dissemination of knowledge.
Last Updated on 2017-09-26 10:07:04
Community Resilience in the Delta
Project Description: Conducting focus groups on food insecurity, motivation, and needs for two communities in the MS Delta.
Desired Student Qualifications: curious, attention to detail, good at asking questions,
Project Timeline: August 2017 to August 2018
Duties of Student Researcher: help facilitate focus group, transcribe data, help analyze data, help in reporting data and presenting to community.
Last Updated on 2017-08-18 13:12:23
Food Insecurity, Health, and Nutrition in Rural Zambia
Project Description: This is actually a study abroad course where students design research questions, collect and analyze data, and synthesize findings. They then use these results to develop policy recommendations that are rooted in primary data.
Desired Student Qualifications: curious, desire to travel internationally
Project Timeline: every May/June
Duties of Student Researcher: collect and aggregate data
Last Updated on 2017-08-18 13:12:35
Sustainable Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa
Project Description: A systematic meta-analysis of academic literature discussing the adoption of SI technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Desired Student Qualifications: familiar with online academic databases (google.scholar, Ebscohost, etc); critical thinking; familiar with how to read academic literature
Project Timeline: Dec 2017-Dec 2018.
Duties of Student Researcher: conduct literature review, help analyze cases, assist with analysis and manuscript writing. Will be co-author on publication.
Last Updated on 2017-08-18 13:21:27