Abstract (English)

The collaboration between anthropology and nutrition programs in Guatemala has a long history. Indeed, the influential work INCAP and many of its successes reflect the institutes collaboration with anthropology (Adams 2010). Despite more than 70 years of collaborations between anthropology and nutrition, often this “collaboration” occurs primarily at the surface level. Difficulties associated with collaboration between the disciplines can demonstrate divergent approaches to participants and the best way to be comprometida. This presentation explores one NGO’s efforts to have, and the importance of, long term engagement in the communities where anthropologists and nutritionists work, often side-by-side with varying degrees of cooperation. Collaborations between nutritionists and anthropologists have faltered because the scientific rigors of nutrition and the reflexive approach of ethnography are often positioned as being at odds. Genuine collaborations–those that move beyond lip-service–are limited because such collaborations require being comprometida: committed and willing to compromise. Anthropology can effectively collaborate by reframing scientific rigor and ethnographic reflexivity as complementary and integrated within projects from their inception (Wallace et al. 2022; Webb et al. 2016; Wehr et al. 2014).