Doctoral Dissertation Research: Migration and State Regulation in the Wake of Economic Crisis

人们的行动能力受到严格的监管，尽管往往是在他们不知情的情况下：车辆登记、执照、身份证、护照、许可证、警察、停车标志、道路沥青等。但经济和政治危机可能会突然强化这些形式的监管。面对持续而直接的监管，人们对流动性、治理和公民身份的概念是如何表达和转变的？本项目旨在培养研究生如何进行严谨、科学的实地考察，考察经济危机后促成有效的公民/国家关系和治理的因素。斯坦福大学博士候选人Kathryn Takabvirwa将在James Ferguson博士的指导下，探讨监管机构和被监管机构如何应对旨在限制经济危机后流动性的政府监管项目。在移民的背景下，津巴布韦为公民身份和合法性的关系提供了一个理想的场所。这个国家正在从特殊的经济危机中复苏，2008年通货膨胀率达到8900亿%，令人震惊的是，10%到42%的人口离开了这个国家，定期在津巴布韦和南非等邻国之间迁徙。在这种背景下，高度流动性时代的全球关注问题更加突出。研究人员将通过为期13个月的人种学研究来探索这些问题。该项目采用多种方法，采用定性和定量数据，采用参与式观察、深度访谈、调查方法、档案工作和材料分析。这项研究有助于更好、更细致地理解危机后社会的经历。它促进了对公民身份和社会性如何在公民/国家参与日常生活的空间中形成的理解。它超越了将发展中国家简单地视为陷入腐败泥潭的传统方法，以经验检验政策和做法的实际经验，并对公民身份和治理提出了更细致入微的理解。

People's ability to move is highly regulated, though often in ways they are unaware of: vehicle registration, licenses, IDs, passports, permits, policing, stop signs, the tarring of roads, etc. But economic and political crises can suddenly harden these forms of regulation. How are people's conceptions of mobility, governance, and citizenship expressed and transformed in the face of constant and immediate regulation? This project, which trains a graduate student in how to conduct rigorous, scientifically grounded fieldwork, examines what factors contribute to effective citizen/state relations and governance in the wake of economic crisis. Stanford University doctoral candidate, Kathryn Takabvirwa, under the supervision of Dr. James Ferguson, will explore how regulators and regulated navigate government regulatory projects designed to restrict mobility following an economic crisis. Zimbabwe presents an ideal site for the nexus of citizenship and legality in the context of migration. The country is emerging from exceptional economic crisis which saw its inflation hit over 89 sextillion percent in 2008, and where a staggering 10% to 42% of the population exited the country and migrates regularly between Zimbabwe and neighboring countries like South Africa. Issues of global concern in an era of hyper-mobility are accentuated in such contexts. The researcher will explore these questions through a 13-month ethnographic study. Taking a multi-methods approach, the project uses both qualitative and quantitative data, employing participant observation, in-depth interviews, survey methods, archival work and material analysis. This study contributes to a better, more nuanced understanding of experiences in post-crisis societies. It advances understandings of how citizenship and sociality are forged in the spaces of citizen/state engagement in everyday life. It goes beyond conventional approaches that see developing countries as simply mired in corruption to empirically examine how policies and practices are actually experienced, and present a more nuanced understanding of citizenship and governance.