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

这项研究项目是对与美国最高法院最近在密歇根大学(UM)平权行动(Grutter诉Bollinger等人和Gratz等人诉Bollinger等人案)有关的政治、法律和行政活动进行的民族志研究。在这些法庭案件中，“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、定量、法律或文本分析，忽视了人们在日常实践中对多样性的解释。该项目通过对UM多样性的法律和非法律含义进行文化分析，帮助填补了这一空白。它考察了关于多样性的话语意义和实际用途的一对社会法律悖论，询问(1)UM管理者、活动家、媒体、法律专业人员和参与诉讼的政治领导人如何谈论多样性的不同的、潜在的相互矛盾的法律和民众意义，以及(2)这些团体如何动员这些话语来促进他们的共同或相互竞争的利益。更广泛地说，它阐述了与法律有关的思想如何赢得选民并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工作。第一阶段的重点是围绕法院案件开展政治动员和法律活动。第二阶段的研究(进行中)通过观察招生办公室的活动和主要校园多样性计划举办的活动、进行访谈和收集档案数据，研究法院的裁决对本科生招生办公室和UM多样性计划的更广泛组织的影响，以及这些计划的内容。

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.