Building Towards One Health: A Transdisciplinary Autoethnographic Approach to Understanding Perceptions of Sustainable Aquatic Foods in Vietnam

Abstract

As Vietnam navigates challenges to its animal, human, and environmental health (One Health) during rapid economic transitions, understanding local perceptions of sustainable food systems, particularly aquatic foods, is vital. This study employs a transdisciplinary, autoethnographic approach to exploring the cultural significance of aquatic food perceptions within Vietnamese communities. Data were primarily sourced through an autoethnographic triangulation method, involving detailed field diaries, vignettes, and interactive workshop data collected from local stakeholders. Our distinctive approach, involving researchers from environmental science, computer science, linguistics, political ecology, aquaculture, nutrition, human physiology, marketing, and accounting and accountability, as both participants and observers, illuminates the lived experiences that shape food perceptions within Vietnam’s specific food agro-ecosystems. By embedding aquatic food perceptions within the One Health framework, we identify key intersections between human, animal, and environmental health. Through cross-disciplinary narrative analysis, our study uncovers the social, political, economic, cultural, and linguistic dimensions surrounding aquatic food perceptions at local, regional, and national levels in Vietnam. Our study highlights the unique contribution of qualitative methods to addressing questions that hard data cannot answer in understanding perceptions of aquatic foods. The study emphasizes the need for an integrated, culturally informed, and transdisciplinary approach to addressing the complex factors influencing One Health outcomes in Vietnam. This research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable food practices and One Health initiatives, proposing culturally informed interventions aimed at enhancing ecological resilience and public health.