Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Anthropological Investigation of the Legal Doctrine of Self-Determination in the Context of Decolonization

博士论文研究：非殖民化背景下自决法律学说的人类学调查

• 批准号: 1322129
• 负责人: Gary Wilder
• 金额: $ 2.53万
• 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: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2016-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1322129&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Anthropological; Investigation

City University of New York-Graduate Center doctoral student Mark Drury, with the guidance of Dr. Gary Wilder, will research the process and effects of applying - or attempting to apply - the legal doctrine of self-determination in the context of decolonization. This proposal examines UN-led efforts during the 1990s to hold a referendum on self-determination in the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara. By focusing on the formation and workings of the UN mission's Identification Commission, this research will consider the significance of self-determination from the perspective of both UN planners and those who participated in the registration process, including: "identification" sheikhs tasked with authorizing or denying the oral testimony of prospective voters, government-appointed observers, and prospective voters themselves. Drury's research will contribute to understandings of how international legal concepts rely upon anthropological forms of knowledge in order to be applied in particular contexts. In addition, his attention to the failure of this particular attempt to apply self-determination will investigate the role of international law in resolving or sustaining political conflict. Where most studies focus on the limitations to international law as a problem of sovereignty and jurisdiction, this research will focus on the possibilities of, and limitations to, the legal concepts themselves.Drury will undertake 12 months of fieldwork, splitting time between New York, Laâyoune, Western Sahara, and a Polisario-run refugee camp in Algerian territory. He will collect data through (1) interviews with former personnel involved in MINURSO, UN's mission to Western Sahara, and its Identification Commission; (2) archival research of UN documents regarding the referendum planning process; (3) semi-structured interviews and oral histories from participants from all levels of the Identification Commission process; and (4) ethnographic observations from participant observation in private and public settings.The findings of this research will be relevant to political scientists and historians interested in the dynamics of decolonization, as well as to practitioners and scholars of political conflict and conflict resolution mechanisms. The research contributes to the training of a graduate student in anthropology.

纽约城市大学研究生中心博士生马克·德鲁里将在加里·怀尔德博士的指导下，研究在非殖民化背景下应用- -或试图应用- -自决法律原则的过程和效果。这项建议审查了1990年代联合国领导的在西撒哈拉非自治领土举行自决全民投票的努力。通过关注联合国特派团身份委员会的组成和运作，本研究将从联合国规划者和参与登记过程的人的角度考虑自决的重要性，包括：负责授权或否认潜在选民口头证词的“身份”酋长、政府指定的观察员和潜在选民本身。德鲁里的研究将有助于理解国际法律概念如何依赖于人类学形式的知识，以便在特定背景下应用。此外，他注意到这种实行自决的特殊尝试失败，将调查国际法在解决或维持政治冲突方面的作用。在大多数研究集中于作为主权和管辖权问题的国际法的局限性的地方，本研究将集中于法律概念本身的可能性和局限性。德鲁里将进行12个月的实地考察，分别在纽约、拉尤因、西撒哈拉和阿尔及利亚境内一个由波利萨里奥组织管理的难民营之间进行。他将通过以下方式收集数据：(1)采访参与西撒特派团（联合国西撒哈拉特派团）及其身份查验委员会的前人员；(2)关于全民公决规划过程的联合国文件档案研究；(3)来自身份鉴定委员会过程中各级参与者的半结构化访谈和口述历史；(4)在私人和公共环境中进行参与性观察的民族志观察。这项研究的结果将与对非殖民化动态感兴趣的政治科学家和历史学家以及政治冲突和解决冲突机制的实践者和学者有关。这项研究有助于培养一名人类学研究生。