Urban Governmentalities in Local-State Relations with a Marginalized Population

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This research project expands understanding of the relations between a marginalized population and forms of local state practices. It is theoretically situated in such a way as to broaden the scope of geographic research on governmentality and it provides a health-oriented focus on geographies of citizenship. The research plan involves data collection and interviews on the relations between two regulatory bodies and an emergent, but marginalized, population in Seattle, Washington during the period from 1950 through 1983. A non-probability, stratified snowball sample will be used to identify and interview the individuals selected for the study. Data will be analyzed using a grounded theory approach that identifies key moments in time at which the regulatory state attempts to govern populations that are designated as problematic. It will also determine individuals' resistance to these imposed actions of the state bureaucracies. Overall, the research project offers greater attention towards public health and licensing agencies and policies. It also captures the multiplicity of ways that citizens and state apparatuses relate to one another, including the micro-scale relations between citizens and local bureaucrats. The project will provide policymakers and human rights commissions with a fuller account of the histories of state-agencies relations with marginalized groups, potentially identifying key moments of both success and failure with respect to questions of equality and freedom. Graduate students will be trained in qualitative research analysis, provide them with opportunities to collaborate in the synthesis and publication of results.