Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Citizenship, the State, and Resistance between Bosnian and Southern Sudanese Refugees in the Midwest United States

研究生Jennifer Erickson在Carol Silverman博士的指导下，将在北达科他州法戈进行合法的南苏丹和波斯尼亚难民、私人和公共机构社会服务工作者以及当地居民之间的互动研究。她的重点将是宗教、文化、民族、种族、性别和阶级的差异如何在非传统的安置地点产生不同的难民经历。肤色从深色（南苏丹人）到浅色（罗姆波斯尼亚人），再到浅色（大多数波斯尼亚人）不等。波斯尼亚人自认为是穆斯林，而南苏丹人主要是基督徒。社会服务机构的不同之处在于，一个是与私人教会相关的社会服务机构，另一个是公益机构。最近的社会科学研究发现，公民的概念不是普遍的，而是不同的适用于不同特征的人。她的目标是了解难民的不同特征如何影响他们被视为公民或潜在公民，以及公民身份程序如何影响他们获得资源。在12个月的实地研究中，研究人员将采用比较的、定性的社会科学方法。她将通过参与当地活动、社区活动和志愿者工作来收集数据。她将对难民、社会工作者和其他机构雇员以及法戈居民样本进行个人和小组访谈。将进行额外的半结构化访谈，以收集生活史和亲属信息。她将使用文本分析技术分析印刷和非印刷媒体关于难民的报道。在一个关于移民的激烈辩论的时期，这项研究将提供一个及时的机会来更好地理解公民身份的不同概念如何影响难民成功融入主流社会的潜力。这项研究将有助于改变关于公民和国家的社会科学理论。它还将支持社会科学家的教育。

Graduate student Jennifer Erickson, supervised by Dr. Carol Silverman, will undertake research on the interaction between legal Southern Sudanese and Bosnian refugees, private and public agency social service workers, and local residents, in Fargo, North Dakota. Her focus will be on how differences in religion, culture, ethnicity, race, gender, and class produce differential refugee experiences in a non-traditional relocation site. Skin color varies from dark (Southern Sudanese), to lighter (Roma Bosnians), to very light (majority Bosnians). The Bosnians self-identify as Muslims while the Southern Sudanese are primarily Christians. The social service institutions differ in that one is a private church-related social service agency and the other is a public welfare agency. Recent social science scholarship has found that the concept of citizenship is not universal but is variably applied to people with different characteristics. Her goal is to understand how the different characteristics of the refugees affect how they are viewed as citizens or potential citizens, and how citizenship processes affect access their resources.The researcher will employ comparative, qualitative social science methodologies during twelve months of field research. She will collect data through participant observation at local events, in neighborhoods, and through volunteer work. She will conduct individual and group interviews with refugees, caseworkers and other agency employees, and a sample of Fargo residents. Additional semi-structured interviews will be done to collect life histories and kinship information. She will use text analysis techniques to analyze reports concerning refugees in print and non-print media. In a period of intense debate about immigration, the research will provide a timely opportunity to better understand how differential notions of citizenship affect the potential for refugees to be integrated successfully into mainstream society. The research will contribute to changing social science theory about citizenship and the state. It also will support the education of a social scientist.