Doctoral Dissertation Research: Caste, Cooperation, and Irrigation Management in the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu

研究，特别是经济学方面的研究表明，种族多样性会抑制社会提供公共产品和服务的能力。然而，这项研究大多基于跨文化调查数据，没有包括主要的民族志或日常合作的详细描述。为了解决这个问题，研究生蒂莫西·M·瓦林在理查德·麦克雷思博士和彼得·J·里切森博士的指导下，设计了一种新的混合研究方法。它将传统的民族志与新的实验性经济游戏相结合，使他能够在不牺牲民族志细节的情况下测试跨文化假说。瓦林将通过对印度泰米尔纳德邦帕拉尼丘陵村庄的合作灌溉做法进行深入研究，调查在不同社会中发现的社会边界是否损害公共产品。为了回答这个问题，瓦林将利用种姓身份作为一种独特的文化和种族多样性，对社会和经济关系产生重大影响。他将以管理当地司法和灌溉的传统村庄治理体系为重点，进行定性的民族志研究，包括参与者观察、焦点个人跟踪和有针对性的焦点小组。接下来，来自六个村庄的农民样本，按种姓分层，将就个人身份、种姓互动、灌溉和人口变量进行访谈。这些调查参与者中的一部分将被选为自愿参加两个特别定制的经济实验，即独裁者游戏和公共产品游戏。这些实验将为种姓身份对合作和资源共享的影响提供额外的、定量的衡量标准，并将使用多变量统计技术进行分析。这项研究将为多民族社会中的个人如何在共同资源上互动提供必要的洞察。就印度的情况而言，详细了解多种姓合作灌溉管理的运作可能有助于避免未来的资源冲突，例如那些助长地区暴力的冲突。更广泛地说，人种学和实验数据的这种研究联系将丰富对种族边界在发展和冲突中所起作用的理论和实践理解，无论它们发生在哪里。这项研究也将有助于研究生的教育。

Research, particularly in economics, suggests that ethnic diversity can inhibit a society's capacity to provide public goods and services. However, most of this research is based on cross-cultural survey data, and fails to include primary ethnography or detailed accounts of daily cooperation. To solve this problem, graduate student, Timothy M. Waring, under the direction of Dr. Richard Mcelreath and Dr. Peter J. Richerson, has designed a new hybrid research methodology. It blends traditional ethnography with new experimental economic games, allowing him to test cross-cultural hypotheses without sacrificing ethnographic detail. Waring will investigate whether the social boundaries found in diverse societies damage public goods through an intensive study of cooperative irrigation practices in villages of the Palani Hills of Tamil Nadu, India. To answer this question, Waring will utilize caste identity as a unique type of cultural and ethnic diversity that has significant impact on social and economic relations. Focusing on the traditional village governance systems that manage local justice and irrigation, he will undertake qualitative ethnographic research, including participant observation, focal individual follows, and targeted focus groups. Next, a sample of farmers from six villages, stratified by caste, will be interviewed on personal identity, caste interactions, irrigation, and demographic variables. A subset of these survey participants will be selected for voluntary participation in two specially tailored economic experiments, the dictator game and the public goods game. These experiments will provide additional, quantitative measures of the effect of caste identity on cooperation and resource sharing, and will be analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques. This research will provide needed insight into how individuals in multi-ethnic societies interact over common resources. For the Indian case, a detailed understanding of the functioning of multi-caste cooperative irrigation management may help to avoid future resource conflicts, such as those that have fueled regional violence. More generally, this research linkage of ethnographic and experimental data will enrich theoretical and practical understanding of the role ethnic boundaries play in development and conflict wherever they occur. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.