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

研究生詹妮弗·埃里克森将在卡罗尔·西尔弗曼博士的指导下，研究合法的南苏丹和波斯尼亚难民、私营和公共机构社会服务工作者以及北达科他州法戈当地居民之间的互动。她的重点将是宗教、文化、种族、种族、性别和阶级的差异如何在非传统搬迁地点产生不同的难民体验。肤色从深色(南部苏丹人)，到浅色(罗姆波斯尼亚人)，再到非常浅色(主要是波斯尼亚人)。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，一个是与教会有关的私人社会服务机构，另一个是公益机构。最近的社会科学研究发现，公民身份的概念并不是普遍的，而是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的方式，以及公民身份过程如何影响他们获得资源。研究人员将在为期12个月的实地研究中使用比较、定性的社会科学方法。她将通过在当地活动、社区和志愿者工作中的参与者观察来收集数据。她将对难民、社会工作者和其他机构员工以及法戈居民进行个人和集体采访。还将进行额外的半结构化访谈，以收集生活史和亲属关系信息。她将使用文本分析技术来分析印刷和非印刷媒体中关于难民的报道。在关于移民的激烈辩论期间，这项研究将提供一个及时的机会，更好地了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有关公民身份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.