Dissertation Research: Investment in Female Education as an Economic Strategy Among U.S. Mexican Households in Nogales, Arizona

该项目支持亚利桑那大学人类学专业的一名学生的学位论文研究。该项目旨在调查亚利桑那州诺加莱斯的美墨家庭在多大程度上投资于女性成员的教育，以此作为一种经济战略。该项目将随机抽取460户家庭，衡量影响其脆弱性或经济困难生存能力的各种因素(移徙历史、工作保障、非正规部门活动、家庭规模和网络特征、住房类型)。需要检验的假设是，投资于女性成员教育的家庭将更加稳定。方法包括人种学参与者观察法、深度访谈法和家庭问卷调查法。这项研究很重要，因为该项目的地点是一个自由贸易制造和装配区(称为maquiladora)，这是北美自由贸易协定活动的密集地点。对当地家庭总体上如何应对这些新机会的新知识，以及家庭投资对女性成员教育的具体影响，将促进我们对工薪阶层家庭如何保障其生计的理解。这些知识将对关注促进工薪阶层家庭经济和社会保障的政策制定者有用。

This project supports the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the University of Arizona. The project is to examine the extent to which US-Mexican households in Nogales, Arizona, invest in the education of their female members as an economic strategy. The project will select a random sample of 460 households and measure the various factors (migration history, job security, informal sector activities, household size and network characteristics, housing type) that affect their vulnerability or ability to survive economic hardship. The hypothesis to be tested is that households which have invested in their female members' education will be more stable. Methods include ethnographic participant-observation and in-depth interviews as well as a questionnaire survey of households. This research is important because the site of the project is a free trade manufacturing and assembly zone (known as maquiladora), which is an intense location for NAFTA activities. New knowledge about how local families react to these new opportunities in general, and the impact of household investment on the education of female members in specific, will advance our understanding of how working class families secure their livelihood. This knowledge will be useful to policy makers concerned with promoting the economic and social security of working class families.