Managing the Honor and Stigma of Disjunctive Identities

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The research supported by this award investigates social groups that have highly disjunctive identities. Disjunctive identities are two or more shared forms of identity that are ranked very differently. The researcher asks how these groups and the people in them manage how they see themselves and the social status assigned to them, and how outsiders respond to those management efforts. Such groups often wish to present their more highly ranked identity as a visible public face, yet they may simultaneously wish to preserve the traditions and values of their other, less esteemed identity. While a wide range of research has explored the experiences of individuals, families, or even larger subsets of groups with disjunctive identities, almost no research has been carried out among entire groups who consciously and intentionally bear one identity considered high status and the other considered much lower. This research will help policy-makers, practitioners, and social scientists understand how social groups live with and manage disjunctive identities, as well as provide models for how such groups may promote their own interests.This research will take place in Madurai, South India, where the researcher, anthropologist Dr. Sara Dickey of Bowdoin College, has carried out ethnographic fieldwork since 1985. She has chosen to focus on the case of the Hindu Nadars, because they have historically occupied one of the lowest ranks in the caste system but today also form one of the wealthiest groups in the region, well-known for public philanthropy such as building hospitals and schools. The researcher will focus on the role of Nadar community organizations, which, for more than a century, have actively tried to control the types of Nadar behaviors and values that are made visible to the larger public and the debates about values and identities that occur within these organizations. The researcher will gather data with a mix of ethnographic methods, including participant observation, the collection of oral histories, interviews, and archival research. Findings from the research will elucidate the extent to which economic success and cultural sophistication can mitigate social discrimination, and how recent developments, such as economic globalization, have affected this process. Results may provide models for U.S. settings and may suggest new approaches to help under-represented students manage disparate identities and thereby enhance academic and social success.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.