Metheny, KarenKurtz, Gretchen2025-03-272025-03-272025https://hdl.handle.net/2144/499582025This thesis challenges longstanding anthropocentric identity theories using an ecological approach to the study of identity and belonging. If ecology studies relationships between organisms and their environment, an ecological lens considers interactions among all actors—human and nonhuman—in a broader conception of society as ecosystem. Ecological Theory of Identity (ETI) posits that identity is symbiotically co-created between the self and other agents by examining interactions between human actors and nonhuman actors, in this case international students and culturally relevant foods (CRFs). ETI’s respect for foods’ power represents an important shift in scholarly emphasis. Identity is not merely mental: materiality matters. Students and foods have power to shape identity and well-being. Drawing from 38 surveys and 11 semi-structured interviews with international graduate and undergraduate students at a large public U.S. university, this qualitative study has important ramifications. Findings show that culturally relevant foods boost students' sense of belonging, with CRFs themselves responsible for this important uptick in well-being. Of the students who rated belonging differently when eating foods from their home country versus overall, 80% reported increased belonging when eating CRFs, at times creating a positive sense of belonging where there had been a negative one.Additionally, as students cook, shop, and increase access to foods from home, they develop resiliency and problem-solving skills. ETI's recognition of temporal dynamics reframes these critical life management skills, gained over time in the very places that Communication Theory of Identity might find personal-enacted or personal-relational identity gaps, as important parts of students’ self-concept. Through ETI, foods are scrutinized for what they are literally communicating to students, just as scholars have analyzed what individuals have communicated to others with foods, with practical ramifications for how universities can better support their student populations. What students eat, with whom they eat, and CRFs’ sensorial agency to impact memories and emotions cultivate identity and belonging in ways overlooked by traditional approaches.en-USCultural anthropologySocial psychologyCommunicationThesis/Dissertation2025-03-170009-0004-5661-9205