Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cooperation and Segementary Descent Groups in the Beq'aa Valley of Lebanon

在黎巴嫩内战（1975-1990年）造成的政府空白期间，Beq'aa的部分后裔群体通过向其成员提供人身安全、财政援助、医疗服务和就业机会等福利而获得权力。这创造了群体团结，使群体更强大。内战结束十四年后，政府正在收回权力，但Beq'aa的后裔群体几乎和战前一样强大，仍然为他们的成员提供类似的服务，从而产生了对个人的互利和对群体的忠诚。尽管来自社区成员的反对越来越多，而且成为部落成员可能需要付出高昂的代价，成员们还是表达了对自己群体的忠诚。文化人类学家的论文研究项目将研究支持企业后裔群体持续存在的因素，并将其与促进其他机构（如当地社区）的因素进行比较。本项目采用定量和定性相结合的方法，探讨了当代中东地区部分血统群体的合作行为、忠诚和团结的动态。该项目将阐明这些团体如何通过提供通常由国家提供的公共产品（例如，安全）来提供国家的替代品，以及这些行为如何在团体成员之间产生忠诚和激励合作。该项目具有更广泛的影响，涉及社会改革的尝试，这些改革往往主要是由武力推动的，而缺乏有关的地方信息。这项研究将扩大西方对具有强大分段血统群体的社会的认识，以及这些群体为获得权力而产生的忠诚，有时也会抵制社会变革。了解血统在组织社会结构和促进合作方面所起的作用，将有助于规划者和非政府组织了解这些农村地区的地方经济进程和经济发展。该项目还促进了年轻社会科学家的教育。

During the governmental void created by the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), the segmentary descent groups of the Beq'aa gained power by providing their members with benefits such as physical security, financial assistance, medical services and job opportunities. This created group solidarity which made the groups stronger. Fourteen years after the civil war, the government is reclaiming power, but the descent groups of the Beq'aa continue to be almost as strong as before the war and still provide similar services to their members thus generating mutual benefit to individuals and loyalty to the group. Members express loyalty to their groups despite increasing opposition from community members and the possibly high costs involved in clan membership. This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropologist will study factors supporting the persistence of corporate descent groups, and compare them to factors promoting alternative institutions such as the local community. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this project explores the dynamics of cooperative behavior, loyalty and solidarity in segmentary descent groups in the contemporary Middle East. The project will shed light on how such groups provide an alternative to the state by providing public goods usually provided by states (e.g., security) and on how such actions engender loyalty and motivate cooperation among group members.This project has broader impacts involving attempts at social reform, which are often driven mostly by force while lacking relevant local information. The research will expand Western knowledge of societies with strong segmentary descent groups and the loyalties these groups engender to gain power and sometimes to resist social change. Understanding the role descent plays in organizing the social structure and promoting cooperation will be helpful to planners and NGOs concerned with understanding local economic processes and economic development in these rural areas. The project also advances the education of a young social scientist.