Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Effects of Migration on Gender Norms and Relations: The Post-Repatriation Experience in Bor, South Sudan.

肯塔基州大学博士候选人MaryBeth Chrostowsky在Monica L. Udvardy将调查非自愿移民的庇护和遣返后经历的性别影响。这项研究将在丁卡移民中进行，他们来自南苏丹博尔，但经历了两个不同的庇护环境：肯尼亚北方的卡库马难民营和苏丹北部的喀土穆。这一比较框架将使她能够确定庇护期间发生的性别规范和关系的变化是否是不同庇护环境的结果，以及这些变化在移民遣返后是否保持不变。研究人员将在南苏丹博尔进行为期12个月的实地研究。她将进行56次半结构化访谈，调查庇护期间和返回后性别规范和关系变化的原因。 访谈的目的是审查丁卡族男女的性别关系和规范，以及这些丁卡族妇女在被迫移徙经历的三个阶段（1）离境前，2）庇护期间，3）遣返后，处理性别不平等问题所使用的策略。访谈中获得的信息将与通过参与者观察和时间分配研究记录的观察到的行为数据进行三角测量。遣返研究和理论中存在的差距导致难民政策和人道主义援助无法满足返回的被迫移民的需求。目前的遣返政策没有承认遣返中的性别因素。 这项研究直接针对这一需要，审查并确定：（1）庇护期间和返回后性别规范和关系变化的主要原因;（2）妇女在庇护期间和返回后处理性别不平等问题的战略。通过解决这些目前的差距，遣返文献，这项研究将扩大目前的局限性，移民理论和改善目前的遣返和冲突后重建政策和干预项目。本研究也将有助于研究生的教育。

University of Kentucky doctoral candidate MaryBeth Chrostowsky, under the guidance of Dr. Monica L. Udvardy, will investigate the gender effects of asylum and post-repatriation experiences of involuntary migrants. The research will be carried out among Dinka migrants who originated in Bor, South Sudan, but experienced two different asylum environments: Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya and Khartoum, in the north of Sudan. This comparative framework will allow her to determine if alterations to gender norms and relations that occurred during asylum are the result of different asylum environments and if these alterations remain intact after migrants are repatriated.The researcher will undertake 12 months of field research in Bor, South Sudan. She will conduct 56 semi-structured interviews to investigate the causes of change to gender norms and relations during asylum and after return. The interviews are designed to examine the gender relations and norms of male and female Dinka and the strategies these Dinka women used to engage with gender inequality during three phases of the forced migrant experience: 1) prior to departure, 2) during asylum, and 3) post-repatriation. Information obtained in the interviews will be triangulated with data on observed behavior recorded through participant observation and a time allocation study.Existing gaps in repatriation research and theory results in refugee policy and humanitarian assistance that fails to meet the needs of returning forced migrants. Missing from current repatriation policy is the recognition of the gendered elements of repatriation. This research directly addresses this need by examining and establishing 1) the primary causes of change to gender norms and relations during asylum and after return, and 2) the strategies women use to deal with gender inequality during asylum and after return. By addressing these current gaps in repatriation literature, this research will expand the current limitations of migration theory and improve current repatriation and post-conflict reconstruction policy and intervention projects. The research also will contribute to the education of a graduate student.