Impact 1 National Geographic

[Leysan Torri]

ETAPlease note I am not available for additional application consultations or follow-up questions. Offering that kind of individualized service for some, but not all, would be antithetical to my intentions for making the application process more equitable for everyone. If you have found this free, public application valuable and would like to give back, you can buy me a coffee here. Thank you!

During my time at Harvard, I also worked with the Harvard Food Law & Policy Center to write several memos that will be used to shape future legislation. This experience strengthened my ability to understand and navigate food policy at all government levels, and will be instrumental in contextualizing my research on Singaporean food systems for a global audience.

In the next 5 years, I hope to be in a leadership position within a public federal agency that oversees food and education-related Task Forces like the one on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. I will apply my 11 years of experience advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the private food sector to transition into a public servant role that spearheads the implementation of new food-related interventions at a federal level.

I see my National Geographic project as a public proof of concept for expanding the type of research expressions at the future organizations I lead. To me, social justice is a concept that must be rooted in people and their relationships. Research methodology and deliverables aimed at improving social good should then magnify and highlight the humanity and beauty of its subject matter. I see this project as a way to introduce meaningful aspects of community building through storytelling using photo essays, first-person interviews, audio samples, and short-form videos as part of a holistic research process. I believe these integrations can provide vibrant new possibilities for the American government to approach food justice in personally attuned ways that more accurately reflect the varied lived experiences of the people within our shared food ecosystem.

Yet, the future of these spaces is threatened by shifting consumer attitudes within an increasingly fast-paced and globalized society. In 2018, 38% of Singaporeans had not visited wet markets in at least a year, instead opting for the convenience of modern supermarkets with set hours and pricing. At the same time, vendors and hawkers are aging out; the median age is 59, and younger generations are more apt to join the white-collar workforce and sell the family business, instead of taking over.

The ongoing evolution of hawker centers and wet markets in Singapore mediate a larger conversation about cultural preservation in the face of modernity, weighing legacy against socioeconomic mobility, and solidifying food security while maintaining equitable access. For my multimedia project, I will utilize photo essays, one-on-one interviews, audio clips, and short-form videos to showcase the lived experiences of vendors and local residents engaging with these spaces in uniquely personal ways. Food is a vessel for the stories of humanity; ensuring a future of food justice requires us to first understand our shared history to collectively create environments where the people and culture behind food can adapt and thrive.

There already exists important works like the book Wet Market to Table, guides like Makansutra, and research projects like On Hawker documenting the lives and knowledge contained within hawker centers and wet markets. My National Geographic project will contribute to this conversation through an ethnographic combination of visual, auditory, and written storytelling with concrete historical research and qualitative fieldwork. I aim to express the intersecting lives contained within Singaporean food culture and its full range of struggle, triumph, and perseverance against the backdrop of existential change. That way, my project can offer a path to both protect an intangible wonder of the world, while also taking part in actively improving it for generations to come.

I will work closely with my 3 professors at NUS to search its own institutional library, art and research databases, government archives, and public food-related collections to conduct appropriate background research. This will likely include in-person interviews with government officials from the NEA, National Heritage Board, and other food-related government agencies.

I will leverage my local connections to connect with as many vendors and local residents at my research sites as possible. I will also set up a table stand at each center and spend dedicated time developing trusting relationships with vendors and residents. I aim to have signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) on their participation in the research process at the end of 2 months.

I will use Otter.ai to transcribe interviews and student researchers to translate between languages. I will personally edit the interview audio clips and videos in Adobe Premiere Pro in tandem with executing the last month of step #3 above.

I will work with NUS Libraries to host a public-facing event to showcase my research outputs from Fulbright and National Geographic. I will be inviting representatives of all government agencies I connected with, and they will build relationships with my research participants to hear and act on their needs. The exhibition will also be available online, with the videos being proliferated on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to create bridges across generations.

For the first three months, I will conduct a literature review to shape my own lens of research analysis. I will start with the government archives and NUS libraries, then ask my professors to connect me with local experts, like Kf Seetoh, and academics, such as Lily Kong and Vineeta Sinha (co-authors of Food, Foodways, and Foodscapes: Culture, Community, and Consumption in Post-Colonial Singapore).

Next, I will conduct vendor and resident outreach. I recognize that food security, access, and business viability are vulnerable topics that necessitate trust. From my work in community outreach for my nonprofit, I know that repeated exposure is an essential first step to normalizing a research presence within a new community. I will contact the NEA for approval to host a table at each research site to familiarize myself with the community (and vice versa). I hope to build trust by explaining my project goals through a values-based lens, focusing on the significance of using narrative storytelling to display the lived realities of people behind the otherwise abstract idea of cultural foodways.

From March to August 2024, I will interview, photograph, and video-record the stories of 1 vendor and 1 resident per month. I will approach my interviews with semi-structured questions, and have begun reviewing my questions experts to ensure cultural relevancy.

I will combine my experience developing short, analytical explainer videos on food politics for my nonprofit with my experimental background in extended reality (XR) to script, storyboard, stitch, and edit video footage detailing the origin stories of vendors, and the corresponding influences demonstrated within the products or finished dishes sold at their stand.

From June to October 2024, I will compile, organize, and synthesize collected data, using emic coding to organically draw out themes and patterns. I will draw upon the tenets of critical participatory action research (CPAR) by inviting my research participants to co-design the qualitative data review process, and engage in consensus-based decision-making on how the results will be displayed and used.

Finally, my awareness campaign for the project debut will be rooted in community-centered preservation. I will likely host the exhibition in tandem with grassroots partners to build cross-functional coalitions supporting the longevity of hawker centers and wet markets.

We define stakeholders as anyone impacted by your work, such as local communities, professional networks, public/private sector, media outlets, students, or audiences. To help us evaluate the outreach component of your proposal, please add links to any websites, social media accounts, public engagement platforms, or other mechanisms you will use to engage your stakeholders.

My Fulbright research proposal is co-signed with 3 professors at NUS. I will be meeting with them on a bi-weekly to monthly basis to refine my research plan, review findings, and adjust when needed. These professors each have their own focus areas that I hope to incorporate in some capacity: environmental policy, business leadership, and inclusive citizenship. In addition to acting as advisors, they have agreed to support my work by finding potential grants, offering the support of their student researchers, and providing access to NUS libraries and other physical resources.

I will conduct interviews with government officials in the National Environmental Agency (which oversees hawker centers and wet markets), the National Heritage Board (which publishes research and reports on these centers), and the Ministry of Health (which has engaged in healthfulness campaigns with hawker vendors) to understand how they see these spaces integrating into the national agenda for the future. I will leverage my network to connect with these representatives. For desired interviewees that I do not have warm introductions to, I will conduct cold outreach through email, phone, and in-person meeting requests.

After a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) of their consenting to be part of the research process is signed, I will spend approximately 5 hours a week, for a month, with 6 different vendors to capture all needed collateral to convey their story. I will ensure they can access all final collateral, invite them to the project exhibition, and promote them on social media (e.g., my own Instagram/TikTok, NUS, Fulbright, and National Geographic accounts). I hope vendors will see this project as a way to publicly preserve aspects of their legacy and connect with their local community.

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