Doctoral Dissertation Research: Borders, Boundaries, and Identities in India and Bangladesh

博士论文研究：印度和孟加拉国的边界、边界和身份

• 批准号: 0602206
• 负责人: Robert Kaiser
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2007-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0602206&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Borders; Boundaries

In recent years scholars studying the processes of globalization and international migration have questioned the persistence of place-based group identity categories in the contemporary world. In these literatures the world is often described as having an unprecedented porosity of borders where populations and cultural ideas are moving across boundaries at levels unseen in history. At the same time, however, in many parts of the world the divisions imposed by political borders are being increasingly enforced as people continue to identify strongly with nations and homelands. Using a qualitative research methodology that includes in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, this doctoral dissertation research project engages with these contradictions by investigating the narration and enactment of ethnic, national, and religious identity categories in the borderlands between India and Bangladesh. These borderlands provide a significant case study because the residents of the two sides of the border, while sharing a common language and ethnic classification as Bengali, have been divided by a political boundary for almost sixty years. This project is driven by three inter-related research questions. 1) How are place-based identification processes changing as they intersect with globalization discourses and practices? 2) How are social boundaries developed, maintained, and dissolved in everyday life in the borderlands between India and Bangladesh? 3) Sixty years after the partition of South Asia, how do the populations in the borderlands construct 'the other' across the border? Has the common language and similar culture led to trans-border social networks that affect the processes of identification? Or have the borderlands become areas where separate national identities are vigorously performed, narrated, and enacted? The results of this project will contribute to two related, but often disconnected, areas of theoretical research. On the one hand, recent work in political geography has reconceptualized the role of political borders in society. On the other hand, work across a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences has critically reappraised the development of social boundaries between groups. By mapping out these connections, the findings of this project will contribute to ongoing debates about the durability of ethnic and national identity categories in the contemporary world and the role borders and boundaries play in constructing, contesting, and redefining these social affiliations. The broader impact of this project will be to deepen the awareness of an important but understudied region of the world through publications and presentations at conferences. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will also provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong, independent research career.

近年来，研究全球化和国际移徙进程的学者对当代世界基于地点的群体身份类别的持续存在提出了质疑。 在这些文献中，世界经常被描述为具有前所未有的边界多孔性，人口和文化思想正在以历史上前所未有的水平跨越边界。然而，与此同时，在世界许多地区，由于人们继续强烈认同国家和家园，政治边界造成的分裂正在日益加强。使用定性研究方法，包括深入访谈，焦点小组和参与者观察，这个博士论文研究项目通过调查印度和孟加拉国边境地区的种族，民族和宗教身份类别的叙述和制定来处理这些矛盾。这些边境地区提供了一个重要的案例研究，因为边境两侧的居民虽然共享共同的语言和孟加拉族，但近60年来一直被政治边界所分割。 本项目由三个相互关联的研究问题驱动。1)基于地点的身份识别过程在与全球化话语和实践交叉时如何变化？ 2)在印度和孟加拉国边境地区的日常生活中，社会边界是如何发展、维持和消除的？3)南亚分治60年后，边境地区的人们如何跨越边境构建“他者”？ 共同的语言和相似的文化是否导致了影响认同过程的跨国界社交网络？ 或者边疆地区已经成为独立的民族身份被有力地表演、叙述和颁布的地区？这个项目的结果将有助于两个相关的，但往往是脱节的，理论研究领域。 一方面，最近的政治地理学研究重新定义了政治边界在社会中的作用。另一方面，社会科学中广泛学科的工作已经批判性地重新评估了群体之间社会边界的发展。 通过绘制这些连接，这个项目的研究结果将有助于持续的辩论种族和民族身份类别在当代世界的持久性和边界和边界在构建，竞争和重新定义这些社会联系中发挥的作用。 该项目的更广泛影响将是通过出版物和在会议上的介绍，加深对世界上一个重要但研究不足的区域的认识。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大、独立的研究生涯。