Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant in Cultural Anthropology: Raiding and Sovereignty in Borderlands

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Duke University doctoral student Louisa Lombard, under the supervision of Professor Charles Piot, will undertake ethnographic research on the role of raiding in relation to state formation and governance, in areas where political sovereignty is not clearly held by any one political entity. Both social science theory and international aid agencies tend to sideline the political role of raiding. This researcher will investigate two overarching questions: (1) What forms of sovereignty and governance operate in borderland areas shaped by a history of raiding? (2) How do newly-arrived international forms of governance insert themselves into and affect local sovereignties where persistent raiding exists?The research will be carried out in the northeastern borderlands of the Central African Republic (CAR) where a variety of overlapping forces, institutions, and interests patrol and regulate the area. The researcher will explore the dynamics of raiding in two sites in particular: one, a northeastern town, where conservation militias combat poachers; the other, a nearby refugee camp overseen by the United Nations. The researcher will employ a mix of social science methods including participant observation, mapping, interviews, and archival analysis. These data will allow her to track the multiple forms of governance that operate in borderlands area and their implications for conceptions of sovereignty, the state, and international law. The research is important because it will illuminate complicated processes of governance, conflict, and peace-building in disputed territories. The research will contribute to social science theory of governance and to post-conflict policy creation. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.