SGER: A Nation Divided: Immigration and Citizenship on the Border

2008年7月，在德克萨斯州的下格兰德河山谷，美国政府开始建造计划中的700英里边境围栏的一部分。这一具有里程碑意义的项目，加上美国总统选举进一步集中了全国对"非法"移民这一热点问题的高度关注，使这一历史性时刻成为一个独特的现场，下格兰德河山谷（南德克萨斯州）。人类学家米格尔·迪亚兹-巴里加（Miguel Diaz-Barriga）和玛格丽特·多尔西（Margaret Dorsey）在他们的调查前研究中发现，在移民和边境围栏建设这两个双重问题上，地方、墨西哥裔美国人的观点与国家、基于政策的观点之间存在脱节。民族志学家计划了解这种脱节是否真的存在，如果存在，除了了解墨西哥裔美国人对移民政策的看法，他们如何体验移民以及边境围栏的建设之外，这种脱节还存在的程度。 这项研究将于2008年9月开始在伊达尔戈州进行，为期五个月（2008年9月至2009年1月）。民族志学者将采用三种方法：在各种基层论坛的参与观察;深入访谈;和移民和边境围栏相关的媒体，如电视节目，新闻文章，小册子，并在英语和西班牙语广播评论分析。研究人员将在伊达尔戈县的一系列聚集点进行民族志实地调查，如受欢迎的、当地拥有的塔奎里亚、退伍军人大厅以及民主党和共和党赞助的活动。研究人员将对一系列相关人士进行更广泛的采访：现任州参议员和国会议员，候选人，政党参与者，边境墙联盟的活动家，商业领袖，当地居民，边境土地所有者和环保主义者的混合体。这个项目提出了在国家和地方关于移民的辩论中经常缺失的观点-墨西哥裔美国边境居民自己的观点。因此，它还将有助于对移民进行更知情、更细致、更多方面的理解，并为公共政策提供积极的信息。

In July 2008 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the United States government began construction on a section of the projected seven hundred mile border fence. This monumental project, combined with the U.S. presidential election further focusing already heightened national attention on the hot-button issue of "illegal" immigration, makes this an historic moment and the Lower Rio Grande Valley (South Texas) a unique field site. Anthropologists Miguel Diaz-Barriga and Margaret Dorsey, in their pre-investigative research, found a disconnect between local, Mexican American perspectives and national, policy-based perspectives on the twin issues of immigration and the construction of the border fence. The ethnographers plan to learn if this disconnect actually exists and if so, the extent to which it exists in addition to learning what Mexican Americans think about immigration policy, how they experience immigration, and the construction of the border fence. The research will be conducted starting in September 2008 in Hidalgo County for five months (September 2008-January 2009). The ethnographers will employ three methodologies: participant observation at a variety of grassroots forums; in-depth interviews; and analysis of immigration and border fence-related media such as television programs, news articles, pamphlets, and radio commentary in both English and Spanish. The researchers will conduct ethnographic fieldwork at a range of gathering spots in Hidalgo County such as popular, locally-owned taquerias, veteran's halls, and Democratic and Republican Party sponsored events. The researchers will conduct more extensive interviews with a range of relevant people: current state senators and congress members, candidates, participants in the political parties, and activists in border wall coalitions, an amalgam of business leaders, local residents, border land owners, and environmentalists. This project presents perspectives often missing in national and local debates over immigration--that of Mexican American border residents themselves. As such, it will also contribute to a more informed, nuanced, and multifaceted understanding of immigration and positively inform public policy.