Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: A Political and Economic Analysis of the Dynamics of Immigrant Identity Formation

博士生玛丽亚迪亚兹蒙特霍，在博士的指导下，沃尔特E。很少，将进行跨国移民流动如何影响，复制和改变文化传统，身份和社会关系的研究。研究目标是确定移民是否使用文化复制来建立跨种族、文化、阶级和国界的网络，以及这种努力的长期社会、经济和政治影响可能是什么。利用危地马拉以前的研究，这个项目将在一个玛雅移民社区进行，他们最初来自危地马拉的Jacaltenango，但现在住在佛罗里达的朱庇特。研究者将进行深入的开放式和半结构化访谈、调查和参与者观察。特别关注宗教和其他公共纪念活动的转变，她将收集有关Jakaltek节日活动与Jakaltek移民身份，经济战略以及与社区外社交网络的参与之间可能联系的数据。这项研究意义重大，因为它将有助于阐明移民身份的复杂性，被视为创新和传统的动态过程。这项研究应该有助于更好地了解移民和居民之间的关系是如何形成的。资助这项研究也支持社会科学家的教育。

Doctoral student Maria Diaz Montejo, under the guidance of Dr. Walter E. Little, will undertake research on how transnational migrant flows may influence, reproduce, and change cultural traditions, identities, and social relations. The research goal is to determine if migrants use cultural reproduction to build networks across ethnic, cultural, class, and national boundaries, and what the long term social, economic, and political effects of such efforts might be.Leveraging previous research in Guatemala, this project will be carried out in a community of Mayan migrants who are originally from Jacaltenango, Guatemala, but now live in Jupiter, Florida. The investigator will conduct in-depth open-ended and semi-structured interviews, surveys, and participant observation. With a particular focus on the transformation of religious and other public observances, she will gather data on possibile connections between Jakaltek festival activities and Jakaltek immigration status, economic strategies, and engagement with extra-community social networks.The research is significant because it will contribute to social science theory by helping to illuminate the complexities of migrant identity, seen as a dynamic process of innovation and tradition. The research should contribute practically to a better understanding of how relationships between immigrants and residents come into being. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.