Collaborative Research: The Violence of "Small Wars," Poverty, and Health in Three Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya

由Bilinda S博士领导。直（西密歇根大学）和博士常春藤L。派克（亚利桑那大学），一个国际人类学家小组将调查肯尼亚Pokot，Samburu和Turkana牧民社区之间暴力的社会和健康相关方面。研究人员将努力确定长期、低强度的暴力如何造成一个特殊的弱势和贫困群体，使暴力造成的不平等有别于其他形式的贫困和不平等。这项研究的区域范围还将目前的暴力情况置于更大的边缘化背景下，从而可以对形成不同社区间暴力经历的社会和政治因素进行细致入微的描述。 为了创建一个民族志驱动的暴力和健康的流行病学研究，研究人员将使用混合方法的方法。该小组将在相互长期冲突的三个相邻族裔社区的两个社区（一个在暴力边界，一个远离暴力冲突边界）的180个家庭（约900- 2 700人）中进行抽样调查。收集的数据包括：（1）评估营养状况的人体测量;（2）通过个别访谈评估与暴力有关的发病率/死亡率和严重伤害;（3）关于项目关键主题的定性访谈;（4）每个社区暴力事件的口述历史;（6）财富评估; 7）从每个区域的保健诊所收集数据，以评价使用模式和死亡率趋势。 这项研究很重要，因为它将使社会科学家更好地了解慢性，低强度暴力，健康和不平等之间的关系。这项研究将产生第一批数据集，将增加的低水平武装冲突与健康经验的变化直接联系起来。这项研究也具有实际意义。卫生研究是社会宣传的一个新兴工具，也是国际外交的一个政治中立工具。该研究还建立了美国，德国，肯尼亚和挪威研究人员之间的国际合作，并支持研究生的实地培训。

Led by Dr. Bilinda S. Straight (Western Michigan University) and Dr. Ivy L. Pike (University of Arizona), an international team of anthropologists will investigate the social and health-related dimensions of violence among Pokot, Samburu, and Turkana pastoralist communities in Kenya. The researchers will seek to determine how chronic, low-intensity violence creates a special class of vulnerable and impoverished persons, making violence-created inequality distinct from other forms of poverty and inequality. The study's regional scope additionally places the current circumstances of violence into a larger context of marginalization, which permits a nuanced account of the social and political factors that shape the different experiences of intercommunity violence. To create an ethnographically driven epidemiological study of violence and health, the researchers will use a mixed-methods approach. The team will sample 180 households (approximately 900-2700 individuals) in two communities (one at the borders of the violence, one removed from the borders of violent conflict) in each of three adjacent ethnic communities in chronic conflict with one another. The data to be collected include: 1) Anthropometric measures to assess nutritional condition; 2) Assessments of violence related morbidity/mortality and major injury through individual interviews; 3) Qualitative interviews on the project's key themes; 4) Oral histories of violent events for each community; 6) Wealth assessments; 7) Collection of data from health clinics in each region to evaluate patterns of use and mortality trends. The research is important because it will allow social scientists to better understand the relationship between chronic, low-intensity violence, health, and inequality. The research will produce one of the first data sets that directly link increased, low-level armed conflict and shifts in health experiences. The research also has practical implications. Health research is an emerging tool for social advocacy and a politically neutral tool for international diplomacy. The research also builds international collaborations between American, German, Kenyan, and Norwegian researchers, and supports the field training of a graduate student.