SGER: Loss and Survival: Culture, Community, and Family Following Hurricane Katrina

人类对突如其来的重大损失的反应各有不同。这个项目将调查400-500名新奥尔良第九区的前居民中的这种差异，他们现在住在科罗拉多州丹佛市的劳里空军基地。第九区98%的人是非裔美国人，大约一半的收入非常有限，大约一半的人足够富裕，足以拥有一套房子。其他社会科学家早些时候的研究发现，一些不太富裕的非裔美国家庭有时会依靠大家庭来分享食物、收入、托儿和养老等资源，以应对物质短缺；相比之下，中产阶级的非裔美国家庭往往更具自主性。该项目将考察每个群体中具有代表性的家庭，并比较他们的应对策略。研究人员还计划了一个未来的项目，该项目将对这些家庭进行更长期的跟踪。该项目雇佣了一个团队，成员包括一名人类学家(在加勒比地区的非洲裔人口中拥有丰富的研究经验，他们的社会结构与非裔美国人相似)，一名社会学家(在灾难受害者中具有丰富的研究经验)，一名艾美奖获奖电影制作人，以及一名研究生。他们将拍摄对难民目前情况的采访；收集亲属关系信息；并让难民保留书面和音频日记。这项工作将使他们能够检查按班级预测的可变性是否确实发生，并为未来的研究提供基线。该项目将有助于制定更好的社会政策，帮助流离失所的人口，并填补有关非裔美国人文化和社会组织的社会科学文献中的巨大空白。该项目还将为研究生提供一个从事紧急研究的不同寻常的机会。

How human beings respond to abrupt and profound loss varies. This project will investigate that variation among the 400-500 former residents of New Orleans' Ninth Ward who now are housed at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. The Ninth Ward was 98 per cent African American, about half of very limited means and about half well enough off to own a home. Earlier research by other social scientistis has found that some less affluent African American families sometimes cope with material scarcity by depending on extended families for sharing resources such as food, income, childcare, and eldercare; in contrast, middle class African American families were found often to be more autonomous. This project will look at representative families from each group and compare their coping strategies. The researchers also plan a future project that will follow the families over the longer run.The project employs a team consisting of one anthropologist (with extensive research experience among African-descended populations in the Caribbean, who have similar social structure to African Americans); one sociologist (with extensive research experience among disaster victims); an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker; and a graduate student. They will film interviews with the refugees in their current situation; collect kinship information; and have the refugees keep written and audio diaries. This work will allow them to examine whether or not the predicted variability by class is in fact occurring as well as provide a baseline for future study. The project will contribute to the development of better social policies for helping displaced populations and to filling the large gaps in the social science literature on African American culture and social organization. The project also will provide an unusual opportunity for a graduate student to engage in urgent research.