How Migration, Resources, and Ethnicity Shaped Female Fertility

移民、资源和种族如何影响女性生育能力

• 批准号: 1632878
• 负责人: Mary Towner
• 金额: $ 20.31万
• 依托单位: Oklahoma State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-15 至 2021-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1632878&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: How; Migration; Resources; Ethnicity; Shaped

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.

在世界范围内，数百万人目前因内战、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21世纪的一个政策问题。强迫下的移民会产生多方面的、往往是相互影响的后果。有些是显而易见的，如经济和文化的破坏；另一些，如长期的生物影响，随着时间的推移会更微妙地展开。该项目的主要研究目标是了解这些长期影响之一--迁徙对女性生育力的影响。考虑到长途迁徙的生理成本，搬到一个新的地区可能会直接影响生育，但也会间接影响生育，因为生殖的成本和收益发生了变化。这是一个研究不足的问题，关心移民福利的政策制定者、试图了解人类经验和人类生物学之间联系的学者以及移民本身都感兴趣，因为他们寻求在困难的条件下建立新的生活。这项研究将由俄克拉荷马州立大学的玛丽·汤纳博士和俄克拉荷马大学的克米特·安德森博士进行。这个问题需要纵向数据，所以他们将使用俄克拉荷马州印第安人的历史人口数据。1828年至1887年间，根据美国政府的驱逐政策，数以万计的具有不同文化历史的美国印第安人移民到印第安人领地(今天的俄克拉何马州)。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高死亡率。然而，关于女性生育力是如何受到影响的，人们知之甚少。该项目的主要研究目标是了解移民、资源获取和种族对历史上俄克拉何马州美国印第安人女性生育差异的影响。民族性涵盖了不同的文化传统、社会规范和人口历史。当移徙将不同族裔的人聚集在一起，并且族裔群体获得资源的机会不同时，族裔群体之间的生育率差异可能会特别明显。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提取俄克拉荷马州妇女的横断面样本，2)根据历史记录重建妇女的纵向数据库，3)跨文化民族志收集关于俄克拉何马州部落的信息。总而言之，这些互补的数据和分析水平将用于由三个具体研究问题产生的预测。研究问题1：俄克拉荷马州早期的生育力差异有多大，在女性中是如何变化的？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层面影响生育率？该项目的发现将为致力于生育率、移民和种族问题的学者和政策制定者以及那些对美国印第安人群体特别感兴趣的人提供参考。该项目还将通过支持研究生培训和为本科生--包括美国印第安人学生--提供从事STEM研究的机会，从而造福社会。