Doctoral Dissertation Research: Divided over Diversity: The Politics of Affirmative Action at University of Michigan

这个研究项目是一个民族志研究的政治，法律的，和行政活动有关的最近美国最高法院案件的平权行动在密歇根大学（UM）（格拉特诉博林格等人和格拉茨等人诉博林格等人）。在法院的这些案件中，“多样性”的概念受到了公众的密切关注。现有的关于多样性概念的学术文献依赖于宏观层面的、定量的、法律的或文本分析，忽视了人们在日常实践中对多样性的解释。该项目有助于填补这一空白，通过使用文化分析的法律的和非法律的意义的多样性在UM。它探讨了一对社会法律的悖论的话语意义和多样性的实际用途，问（1）如何做UM管理人员，活动家，媒体，法律的专业人士，和政治领导人参与诉讼谈论不同的，潜在的矛盾的法律的和流行的多样性的含义，以及（2）这些群体如何动员这些话语，以促进他们的共同或竞争的利益。更一般地说，它涉及到与法律有关的想法如何获得支持者和塑造纠正社会不平等的努力。该项目有两个阶段的实地考察。第一阶段的重点是围绕法院案件进行政治动员和法律的活动。第二阶段的研究（正在进行中）研究法院的决定对本科招生办公室和UM多样性计划的更广泛组织的影响，以及这些计划的内容，通过观察招生办公室的活动和主要校园多样性计划主办的活动，进行采访，并收集档案数据。

This research project is an ethnographic study of political, legal, and administrative activities related to recent U.S. Supreme Court cases about affirmative action at the University of Michigan (UM) (Grutter v. Bollinger et al and Gratz et al v. Bollinger et al). With these Court cases, the concept of "diversity" has received intense public scrutiny. The existing scholarly literature on the diversity concept relies on macro-level, quantitative, legal, or text analyses, overlooking people's interpretations of diversity in their everyday practices. The project helps to fill in this gap by using a cultural analysis of the legal and non-legal meanings of diversity at UM. It examines a pair of socio-legal paradoxes concerning the discursive meanings and practical uses of diversity, asking (1) how do UM administrators, activists, the media, legal professionals, and political leaders involved in the lawsuits talk about the different, potentially contradictory legal and popular meanings of diversity, and (2) how do these groups mobilize these discourses to advance their shared or competing interests. More generally, it addresses how ideas related to law acquire constituencies and shape efforts to redress social inequalities. The project has 2 phases of fieldwork. The first phase focused on the political mobilization and legal activities around the Court cases. Research for the second phase (in progress) studies the impact of the Court's decision on the undergraduate admissions office and the broader organization of UM diversity programs, as well as the content of these programs, through observation of activities in the admissions office and events hosted by major campus diversity programs, conducting interviews, and collecting archival data.