Semester Award Granted
Spring 2025
Submission Date
May 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Michael Harris
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, the ancient practice of the communal pot (olla común) has become even more popular. This consists of neighbors spontaneously organizing themselves to collect food to cook for needy people. Peru is characterized by informality and ontological precarity that persist over time regardless of the political context, leading to endemic food insecurity. The pandemic crisis further aggravated the situation of Peruvians, leading the Peruvian government to support the growing communal pots that had traditionally been autonomous. The food crisis has persisted in post-pandemic times, which is why communal pots have multiplied, many of them becoming, in practice, formal popular kitchens that are subsidized by the Peruvian state despite maintaining the name of communal pots. However, some communal pots have decided to remain autonomous, as is the case of the three communal pots studied in this research, located in the city of Trujillo on the northern coast of Peru. For several months in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, I conducted fieldwork based on three communal pots: a communal pot dedicated to teaching values to children, a communal pot dedicated to organizing workshops to learn skills to start their own business, and a communal pot devoted to feeding the elderly. The women organizers of these three communal pots have decided to remain autonomous and reject state subsidies because they consider their dignity, capacity, and self-sufficiency as bulwarks against abuse of power, political patronage, and state corruption. Widespread corruption, prevailing indifference, and unpunished criminality have led the women organizers of these three communal pots to organize themselves without formalizing their communal pots, despite the political and legal agenda of the Peruvian government to intervene in all communal pots through local governments. Overall, this type of communal pot has been undergoing changes due to the intervention of the Peruvian government.
Recommended Citation
Sabogal-Suji, Ricardo M., "THE PRACTICE OF THE COMMUNAL POT -OLLA COMÚN- BY LOW-INCOME WOMEN AS A STRATEGY TO FACE HUNGER ON THE NORTH COAST OF PERU" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 27.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/27