How Migration, Resources, and Ethnicity Shaped Female Fertility

在世界范围内，目前有数百万人因内战、经济冲突、宗教迫害和自然灾害等不利条件而流离失所。美国如何应对这类危机既是一个重大的人道主义问题，也是一个世纪的政策问题。胁迫下的移徙具有多重、往往是相互作用的后果。有些影响，如经济和文化破坏，是显而易见的;另一些影响，如长期的生物影响，则随着时间的推移而更加微妙地显现出来。该项目的首要研究目标是了解这些长期影响之一，即移民对女性生育率的影响。考虑到长距离迁移的生理成本，迁移到一个新的地区可能会直接影响生育率，但也会间接影响生育率，因为繁殖的成本和收益发生了变化。这是一个未得到充分研究的问题，关心移民福利的决策者、寻求了解人类经验和人类生物学之间联系的学者以及寻求在困难条件下建立新生活的移民本身都对这个问题感兴趣。这项研究将由玛丽托纳博士（俄克拉荷马州州立大学）和克米特安德森博士（俄克拉荷马州大学）进行。这个问题需要纵向数据，所以他们将使用俄克拉荷马州的美洲印第安人的历史人口统计数据。在1828年至1887年期间，根据美国政府的迁移政策，成千上万具有不同文化历史的美洲印第安人迁移到印第安人领地（今俄克拉荷马州）。众所周知，它们造成了巨大的经济和社会代价，包括资源损失和高发病率和死亡率。然而，人们对女性生育能力如何受到影响知之甚少。该项目的总体研究目标是了解移民，获得资源和种族对生育率变化的影响，在历史上的俄克拉荷马州美国印第安妇女。种族涵盖了不同的文化传统，社会规范和人口历史。当移徙使不同族裔的人聚集在一起，而且族裔群体在获得资源方面有差别时，族裔群体之间的生育率差异可能特别突出。为了实现项目目标，研究人员将使用三个层次的方法：1）从1910年美国联邦人口普查中抽取的俄克拉荷马州妇女的横截面样本，2）根据历史记录重建的妇女纵向数据库，以及3）跨文化民族志收集俄克拉荷马州部落的信息。总之，这些互补的数据和分析水平将对来自三个具体研究问题的预测产生影响。研究问题1：早期俄克拉荷马州的生育率变化程度如何？研究问题2：移民和搬迁对生育率的长期影响是什么？研究问题3：文化历史如何在人口水平上塑造生育率？该项目的研究结果将为研究生育率、移民和种族问题的学者和决策者以及对美洲印第安人特别感兴趣的人提供信息。 该项目还将通过支持研究生培训和为包括美国印第安学生在内的本科生提供从事STEM研究的机会来造福社会。

Worldwide, millions of people are currently displaced by adverse conditions such as civil war, economic strife, religious persecution, and natural disasters. How the United States responds to such crises is both a major humanitarian concern and a policy concern for the 21st century. Migration under duress has multiple, often interacting, consequences. Some, such as economic and cultural disruption are evident; others, such as long-term biological effects, unfold more subtly over time. The overarching research goal of this project is to understand one of those long-term effects, the impact of migration on female fertility. Moving to a new region might impact fertility directly given the physiological costs of long distance movement, but also indirectly, as the costs and benefits of reproduction change. This is an understudied question that is of interest to policy makers concerned with migrant welfare; scholars who seek to understand the connections between human experience and human biology; and the migrants themselves as they seek to establish new lives under difficult conditions. The research will be conducted by Dr. Mary Towner (Oklahoma State University) and Dr. Kermyt Anderson (University of Oklahoma). The problem requires longitudinal data, so they will use historical demographic data that are available for American Indians in Oklahoma. Between 1828 and 1887, tens of thousands of American Indians with diverse cultural histories migrated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) under United States government removal policies. It is well-known that they incurred significant economic and social costs, including loss of resources and high morbidity and mortality. Little is known, though, about how female fertility was affected. The overarching research goal of this project is to understand the impact of migration, access to resources, and ethnicity on fertility variation across American Indian women in historical Oklahoma. Ethnicity captures diverse cultural traditions, social norms, and population history. Fertility contrasts between ethnic groups may be particularly acute when migration brings people of different ethnicities together and as ethnic groups experience differential access to resources. To meet the project goal, the researchers will use a three-leveled methodological approach: 1) a cross-sectional sample of Oklahoma women drawn from the 1910 United States Federal Census, 2) a longitudinal database of women, reconstructed from historical records, and 3) cross-cultural ethnographies to assemble information on Oklahoma tribes. Together, these complementary levels of data and analysis will be brought to bear on predictions stemming from three specific research questions. Research Question 1: What was the extent of fertility variation in early Oklahoma and how was it patterned across women? Research Question 2: What was the long-term impact of migration and relocation on fertility? Research Question 3: How did cultural history shape fertility at the population level? The findings of this project will be informative to both scholars and policy-makers working on questions of fertility, migration, and ethnicity, as well as those with a particular interest in American Indian populations. The project will also benefit society by supporting graduate student training and providing undergraduates--including American Indian students--an opportunity to engage in STEM research.