Doctoral Dissertation Research: International Migration from Ecuador's Southern Andes: The Embeddedness of Migration Process in Daily Life

厄瓜多尔上世纪90年代末的经济危机导致安第斯山脉南部省份阿祖韦和卡纳尔的跨国移民网络迅速扩张。以往的学术研究研究的是移民汇款对厄瓜多尔的影响，而本项目研究的是与移民相关的进程如何成为这个高移民地区人民日常生活的重要组成部分。这项研究将调查美国和厄瓜多尔试图阻止非法移民的政策之间的关系，以及与发起国际移民有关的当地经验。该项目提出以下问题：1)美国和厄瓜多尔政府的政策与厄瓜多尔移民到美国的产业和过程之间的关系是什么？2)在azway和Canar，这些产业和流程是如何嵌入到日常的政治、经济和社会生活中的？混合方法分析将提供关于移民政策背后的战略和影响以及外迁在当地生活中的作用的数据。研究将包括对厄瓜多尔政策制定者的深入访谈；厄瓜多尔的美国移民和海关执法官员；非政府组织、地方官员和有美国移民的家庭。方法还将包括参与观察和住户调查。实地考察将在基多（厄瓜多尔首都）以及阿祖伊省和Cañar省的三个城市进行，为期9个月。调查结果将解决国家和国际处理非法移民的方法之间的脱节，以及个人的看法、决定和行动。调查人员将询问，在远离移民和潜在移民日常生活的环境中设计的移民控制政策会产生什么样的结果。这项研究的结果将有助于移民原籍国和目的地国的政策制定。在全球南方的移民来源国，国际移民已成为经济的核心，并日益受到政治、经济和文化方面的关注。与此同时，由于美国实行更严格的移民政策，并鼓励其他国家也这样做，本项目评估了这种做法的广泛影响。通过在移民原籍地进行研究，该研究旨在更好地了解移民渗透到移民来源国日常生活的多种方式。因此，该项目将有助于就移民政策与个人关于移民的决定之间的关系进行辩论。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研究生涯。

Ecuador's economic crisis of the late 1990s led to rapid expansion of transnational migration networks in the southern Andean provinces of Azuay and Canar. While previous scholarship studied the effects of migrant remittances in Ecuador, this project examines ways in which the processes related to migration have themselves become an important component of daily life for people in this region of high emigration. The research will investigate the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian policies attempting to thwart illicit migration, and local experiences linked to initiating international migration. The project asks the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian government policy and the industries and processes of migration from Ecuador to the U.S.? and 2) In what ways are these industries and processes embedded in daily political, economic, and social life in Azuay and Canar? A mixed-methods analysis will provide data on the strategies behind and effects of migration policy, and the role of out-migration in local life. Research will involve in-depth interviews with Ecuadorian policy makers; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Ecuador; non-state organizations, local level officials, and households with U.S. migrants. Methods will also include participant observation and household surveys. Fieldwork will take place over nine months in Quito (Ecuador's capital) and in three cities of the Azuay and Cañar provinces. The findings will address disjunctures between national and international approaches toward illicit migration, and individuals' perceptions, decisions, and actions. The investigators will ask what kind of results are yielded by migration control policies designed in settings removed from migrants' and potential migrants' daily lives.The results of this research will contribute to policy making in countries of migrant origin and destination. In source countries of the global South, international migration has become central to the economy and is of increasing political, economic, and cultural concern. Meanwhile, as the United States pursues more restrictive immigration policies and encourages other countries to do the same, this project evaluates the wide-ranging impacts of such an approach. By conducting research in a site of migrant origin, the study aims for greater understanding of the many ways in which migration infiltrates daily life in sending areas. The project will therefore contribute to debates concerning the relationship between immigration policy and individual decisions regarding emigration. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.