Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant: Stranded Cosmopolitans: Imagined Belonging in an Out-Of-The-Way Brazilian City

博士论文研究改进补助金：搁浅的大都会人：想象中的巴西偏僻城市的归属感

• 批准号: 0961097
• 负责人: Donald Donham
• 金额: $ 1.98万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-03-15 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0961097&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Improvement; Grant

University of California-Davis doctoral student, Timothy E. Murphy, supervised by Dr. Donald L. Donham, will undertake research on the growth of provincial urban culture outside of global cities and how this culture affects social divisions of race, class, and gender. The project will provide insight into significant changes taking place in provincial cities throughout the world, as previously isolated people are cognitively incorporated into larger worlds, even when those worlds remain outside their physical reach. The research is important for increasing our understanding of the diffusion and authority of new ideas.The research will be carried out on a network of middle-class Brazilians who live in a city located at the heart of the impoverished Brazilian Northeast. The study will focus on non-elite residents who are considered cosmopolitan, knowledgeable about sophisticated cultures from outside, despite the reality that poverty makes it impossible for them to travel. Data collection will begin with participant observation by accompanying informants throughout occupational, leisure, and consumer activities to 1) learn where and how they acquire their cultural knowledge; 2) assess the extent to which their daily practices and perceptions are linked to the world outside the city; and 3) analyze how they understand and operationalize dominant norms of race, class, and gender. The researcher will also conduct focus groups and surveys to collect comparative data on the dominant (non-cosmopolitan) local culture. The research is important because it will advance our understanding of how even disadvantaged people in remote locales may connect to and identify with distant places and ideas. This is significant beyond the local case of "stranded cosmopolitans" in provincial Brazil because it may be through similar personalized pathways that new concepts -- be they political, cultural, or religious -- diffuse from global centers into local lives. The project also contributes to the education and training of a social scientist.

加州大学戴维斯分校的博士生蒂莫西·E。墨菲，由唐纳德·L博士监督。Donham将研究全球城市之外的省级城市文化的发展，以及这种文化如何影响种族，阶级和性别的社会分工。 该项目将深入了解世界各地省级城市发生的重大变化，因为以前孤立的人在认知上融入了更大的世界，即使这些世界仍然在他们的物理接触范围之外。这项研究对于提高我们对新思想的传播和权威的理解非常重要。这项研究将在巴西东北部贫困地区中心城市的中产阶级网络中进行。这项研究将重点关注非精英居民，他们被认为是世界性的，了解来自外部的复杂文化，尽管贫困使他们无法旅行。数据收集将开始与参与者的观察陪同受访者在整个职业，休闲和消费活动，1）了解他们在哪里以及如何获得他们的文化知识; 2）评估他们的日常做法和看法在多大程度上与城市以外的世界;和3）分析他们如何理解和操作的种族，阶级和性别的主导规范。研究员亦会进行焦点小组及调查，以搜集本地主流文化（非国际性文化）的比较数据。这项研究很重要，因为它将促进我们对偏远地区弱势群体如何与遥远的地方和想法联系和认同的理解。这一点的意义远远超出了巴西各省“搁浅的世界主义者”的地方案例，因为新的概念-无论是政治的、文化的还是宗教的-可能是通过类似的个性化途径从全球中心扩散到当地生活的。该项目还有助于社会科学家的教育和培训。