Doctoral Dissertation Research: Racial Boundaries and the Dynamics of Transformation

博士论文研究：种族界限与转型动力

• 批准号: 1303516
• 负责人: Jose Itzigsohn
• 金额: $ 1.08万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1303516&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Racial; Boundaries

José ItzigsohnMarcelo A. BohrtBrown UniversityStruggles over racial boundaries are a perennial feature of racialized societies -- where social, political, and economic resources are differentially distributed along racial lines. Yet, most studies of the transformation of racialized societies adopt a macro-level political and institutional perspective, overlooking how transformation is experienced, perceived, and participated in by concrete actors, on the ground. The project promises to make the following contributions to the study of race and racial boundaries: (1) to examine how racial discourses inform the transformation of state institutional logics, and the ways in which the racial/cultural identities of bureaucrats shape and are shaped by everyday organizational interactions; (2) to reveal how race works by examining how racial boundaries are maintained, challenged, and changed in everyday life; and (3) to better specify the link between everyday discourses and practices in the transformation of racial boundaries. Through 12 months of ethnographic research and interviews this project studies the micro-dynamics of state decolonization, and the articulation of a new state structure in Bolivia. The research focuses on one facet of the larger project, the decolonization of public administration, which has, in part, resulted in the opening up of positions within the civil service to indigenous men and women. Following the process of decolonization of one state agency and using the sociological concepts of symbolic and social boundaries as analytical tools, this research seeks to understand how, in the context of macro-political change, bureaucrats on the ground interpret, negotiate, and rearticulate racial boundaries and institutional change, and to what effect.Broader ImpactsThe study will have practical implications of relevance to policy practitioners. It will shed light on the generally obscured area between official racial policies and their implementation on the ground. The lessons learned could possibly inform institutional change beyond the public sector and in other contexts. These lessons are important in light of the resilience of racial inequalities despite policies that seek to address them. In addition, this project will build and promote lasting research collaboration networks between researchers in Bolivia and the United States.

围绕种族界限的斗争是种族化社会的一个长期特征——在这些社会中，社会、政治和经济资源是按种族界线分配的。然而，大多数关于种族化社会转型的研究都采用宏观层面的政治和制度视角，忽视了具体行动者如何在实地体验、感知和参与转型。该项目承诺对种族和种族边界的研究做出以下贡献：(1)研究种族话语如何影响国家制度逻辑的转变，以及官僚的种族/文化身份如何塑造和被日常组织互动所塑造；(2)通过考察种族界限在日常生活中是如何维持、挑战和改变的，揭示种族是如何起作用的；(3)更好地明确日常话语和实践在种族边界转换中的联系。通过12个月的人种学研究和访谈，本项目研究了玻利维亚国家非殖民化的微观动态，以及新国家结构的表达。这项研究集中于较大项目的一个方面，即公共行政的非殖民化，这在一定程度上导致向土著男女开放公务员制度内的职位。遵循一个国家机构的非殖民化过程，并使用象征性和社会边界的社会学概念作为分析工具，本研究试图理解，在宏观政治变化的背景下，当地的官僚如何解释，谈判和重新阐明种族边界和制度变革，以及产生了什么影响。更广泛的影响这项研究将对政策实践者具有实际意义。它将揭示官方种族政策与实际执行之间普遍模糊的区域。所吸取的经验教训可能为公共部门以外和其他情况下的体制变革提供信息。鉴于种族不平等的复原力，尽管有政策寻求解决这一问题，这些教训是重要的。此外，该项目将在玻利维亚和美国的研究人员之间建立和促进持久的研究合作网络。