Doctoral Dissertation Research: Processes of State Administration in Caring for the Isolated Deceased

博士论文研究：国家行政机关照顾孤立死者的过程

• 批准号: 1728932
• 负责人: Carol Greenhouse
• 金额: $ 2.35万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-15 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1728932&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Processes; State

The research funded by this award will investigate a little studied aspect of contemporary urban life: what happens when people die anonymously. Individuals once died in multigenerational homes; deaths were mourned by extended family networks and funerary rituals were observed by kin, friends, and neighbors. Anthropologists have documented such funerary systems all over the world and have found that their variability provides one lens through which to understand the variability of the different societies and cultures. This project asks, how is death treated differently now that families are smaller and geographically dispersed? What happens to the dead when more people are living alone and in cities? Do funerary rituals change and what do these changes tell us about shifts in kinship and social relations? When the state intervenes in this highly intimate sphere, caring for the body, property, and memory of the dead, does this signal a simple extension of state authority or a major shift in the role of the state bureaucracy? This research is important because it will contribute to understanding the wide-ranging implications of the global trend to urban living.The project will document and analyze the role of the state and its network of contractors in laying to rest the isolated dead in an American city. Princeton University anthropology doctoral candidate Sofia Pinedo-Padoch, under the supervision of Dr. Carol Greenhouse, will carry out the research at the Public Administrator's office in New York City. The Public Administrator is a city agency that intervenes when an individual dies without a will, family, or other heirs. It is the agency's job to ensure a decedent's body is laid to rest, and to attend to the distribution and liquidation of any property and assets. Ms. Pinedo-Padoch will conduct participant observation research at the Public Administrator's office, as well as within the network of public and private contractors that assist the agency. She will also carry out archival research and interviews to trace a sample of cases of individual deaths from beginning to end, documenting the full process of state activity and the individuals who become subject to it. The research will produce a comprehensive portrait of the state's increasingly frequent work as caretaker for the dead, illuminating what death looks like in a changed, contemporary urban world, and what that reveals about social and cultural life today.

该奖项资助的研究将调查当代城市生活的一个小研究方面：当人们匿名死亡时会发生什么。个人曾经死在多代同堂的家庭里；大家庭网络对死亡表示哀悼，亲属、朋友和邻居举行丧葬仪式。人类学家记录了世界各地的此类丧葬系统，并发现它们的可变性为理解不同社会和文化的可变性提供了一个视角。该项目提出，既然家庭规模较小且地理位置分散，那么如何以不同的方式对待死亡？当越来越多的人独自生活在城市中时，死者会怎样？丧葬仪式是否发生了变化？这些变化告诉我们关于亲属关系和社会关系的哪些变化？当国家介入这个高度私密的领域，照顾死者的身体、财产和记忆时，这是否标志着国家权威的简单延伸，还是国家官僚机构角色的重大转变？这项研究很重要，因为它将有助于理解全球趋势对城市生活的广泛影响。该项目将记录和分析国家及其承包商网络在安息美国城市中孤立的死者方面所发挥的作用。普林斯顿大学人类学博士生 Sofia Pinedo-Padoch 将在 Carol Greenhouse 博士的指导下在纽约市公共行政办公室开展这项研究。公共行政人员是一个城市机构，当一个人在没有遗嘱、家人或其他继承人的情况下死亡时，该机构会进行干预。该机构的职责是确保死者的遗体安息，并负责所有财产和资产的分配和清算。皮内多-帕多克女士将在公共行政办公室以及协助该机构的公共和私人承包商网络内进行参与观察研究。她还将进行档案研究和访谈，从头到尾追踪个人死亡案例的样本，记录国家活动的全过程以及受到影响的个人。这项研究将全面描述国家作为死者看护者日益频繁的工作，阐明死亡在变化的当代城市世界中的样子，以及它揭示了当今的社会和文化生活。