Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal and Moral Sources of Trust in the Social Lives of Displaced People

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The research supported by this award investigates the local-level legal and moral relationships through which displaced people are incorporated into new social environments. Massive global population displacement has produced what some label the greatest humanitarian crisis since the founding of the United Nations. But explaining the full ramifications of displacement remains a challenging problem for social scientists. Those who ascribe to rational choice models may see the decision to move as a reasoned choice given situational factors. Others point to structural factors, such as political and economic inequalities, to explain dislocation. But these explanations do not account for the legal and ethical relationships, grounded in trust, that make it possible for displaced people to be re-emplaced after relocation. This research will investigate the micro-processes through which trust is cultivated by and for displaced people. Understanding these processes, critical to comprehending what is needed to end the crisis, is important for advancing social science theory about displacement and for U. S. policy.The research will be carried out by Stanford University anthropology doctoral student, Kerem Can Ussakli, as part of advanced training in how to conduct empirically grounded scientific fieldwork, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Blom Hansen. The research will be conducted in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. This is an appropriate site because after gaining autonomy, the region has become known for its resilience, social cohesion, and hospitality for the internally displaced populations. The researcher will look at sponsorship relations between Iraqi internally displaced people and their Kurdish hosts, to examine how individuals create cultural networks and moral mechanisms of trust even in conditions of prolonged violence. He will work with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), humanitarian workers, lawyers, displaced people, and local residents to document the varying legal statuses and claims raised by each actor. Data will be collected through a mixed-methods approach including participant observation, interviews and life-histories and archival research. Findings from this research will be useful to policymakers who seek better-informed policies in the fields of state-building, refugee settlement, government, and international law.