Doctoral Dissertation Research: Claiming Space, Redefining Politics: Road Blockades and the Articulation of Grassroots Power in Urban Bolivia

博士论文研究：争取空间，重新定义政治：玻利维亚城市的道路封锁和草根权力的表达

• 批准号: 0962403
• 负责人: Marc Edelman
• 金额: $ 1.13万
• 依托单位: CUNY Graduate School University Center
• 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 2012-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0962403&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Claiming; Space

Doctoral candidate Carwil R. James (City University of New York Graduate Center), with the guidance of Dr. Marc Edelman, will investigate the spatial logic and effects of urban protest activities, with a particular focus on disruptive mass protests in public space, such as road blockades and occupations of city centers. Have these mass protests, as some observers suggest, introduced and facilitated new ways of "doing politics"? By studying these protests as transformative events, this study will advance social scientific understanding of the social protest and the political use of space.The research will be carried out in two sites in Bolivia, Cochabamba and Sucre, both known for urban protests. The researcher will use a mixture of social science research methodologies to gather data, including: participant observation in social movements; interviews and extended life histories of organizers, participants, and state actors; and analyses of a variety of media and archival sources. Through these methods, the researcher will determine (1) the political and racial geography of the city; (2) the agendas and alliances of active social movements; (3) and connections between their political goals and their practices of protest.This research is important for social science because it will pioneer new methodologies for investigating short, impactful events in ethnographic depth. Through its close attention to multiple aspects of political life, this research also will contribute to understanding the effects of public, space-claiming protest activities on the participants, the political system, and politically and racially stratified urban geography. Supporting this research also supports the education of a social scientist.

博士候选人 Carwil R. James（纽约市立大学研究生中心）将在 Marc Edelman 博士的指导下研究城市抗议活动的空间逻辑和影响，特别关注公共空间中的破坏性大规模抗议，例如道路封锁和占领市中心。这些大规模抗议活动是否如一些观察家所暗示的那样，引入并促进了“搞政治”的新方式？通过将这些抗议作为变革性事件进行研究，这项研究将增进对社会抗议和空间政治利用的社会科学理解。这项研究将在玻利维亚科恰班巴和苏克雷的两个地点进行，这两个地点都以城市抗议而闻名。 研究人员将使用多种社会科学研究方法来收集数据，包括：社会运动中的参与观察；组织者、参与者和国家行为者的访谈和详细的生活史；以及对各种媒体和档案来源的分析。通过这些方法，研究人员将确定（1）城市的政治和种族地理； (2) 积极的社会运动的议程和联盟； (3) 以及他们的政治目标和抗议实践之间的联系。这项研究对于社会科学很重要，因为它将开创在民族志深度上调查短暂、有影响力的事件的新方法。通过密切关注政治生活的多个方面，这项研究还将有助于理解公共的、占用空间的抗议活动对参与者、政治制度以及政治和种族分层的城市地理的影响。支持这项研究也支持社会科学家的教育。