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

近年来，研究全球化进程和国际移民的学者对当代世界中基于地点的群体认同类别的持久性提出了质疑。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从未见过的水平跨越边界。然而，与此同时，在世界许多地方，由于人们继续强烈地认同国家和家园，政治边界所造成的分裂正日益加强。本博士论文研究项目采用定性研究方法，包括深度访谈、焦点小组和参与者观察，通过调查印度和孟加拉国边境地区种族、国家和宗教身份类别的叙述和制定，研究这些矛盾。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拥有共同的语言和孟加拉族分类，但被政治边界分隔了近60年。这个项目是由三个相互关联的研究问题驱动的。1)基于地点的识别过程在与全球化话语和实践相交时是如何变化的？2)在印度和孟加拉国之间的边境地区，社会界限是如何在日常生活中发展、维持和消解的？3)在南亚分裂60年后，边境地区的人们如何跨越边界构建“他者”？共同的语言和相似的文化是否导致了影响身份认同过程的跨国界社会网络？还是说，边境地区已经变成了独立的民族身份被大力表演、叙述和制定的地方？这个项目的结果将有助于两个相关的，但往往互不相关的理论研究领域。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，跨广泛的社会科学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。通过绘制这些联系，本项目的发现将有助于对当代世界中种族和国家身份类别的持久性以及边界和边界在构建、争论和重新定义这些社会关系中所起的作用进行辩论。这个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，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的，独立的研究生涯。

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.