Doctoral Dissertation Research: Differential Recognition of Two Afrodescendent Populations, 1970-2018

这个项目调查为什么只在一些非洲人后裔人口中颁布和实施权利。在许多地方，自1980年代以来，非洲人后裔运动在政治上和文化上引起了共鸣，但他们一直无法实现对其权利的实质性承认。为了了解为什么只有一些地方将权利扩展到非裔人口，而其他地方却没有这样做，本研究比较了两个地方对非裔人口的差异识别。数据来自两地的访谈、档案记录和12个月的参与者观察。这项研究的结果将增进对提高对不同群体的认可的过程的理解，从而有助于民族凝聚力和福祉。该项目试图从比较的角度解释为什么只有一些地方将权利扩大到非裔人口，而另一些地方却没有这样做。调查了两个非洲裔人口政治认同或缺乏政治认同的相反轨迹的地方。据推测，这些差异是由于民族国家形成的长期计划、民族政治组织的实践以及政权更迭的关键时刻的不同所致。对关键时刻的一个关键分析方法是从对政治主张得到认可的国家舞台的分析中分离出对动员过程出现的地方环境的分析。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates why rights have been enacted and implemented only for some Afrodescendent populations. In many places, Afrodescendent movements have been politically visible and culturally resonant since the 1980s and yet they have been unable to achieve substantive recognition of their rights. To achieve understanding of why only some places have extended rights to Afrodescendent populations while others have failed to do so, this study compares the differential recognition of Afrodescendent populations in two places. Data come from interviews, archival records in both places, and 12 months of participant observation. Findings from this research will improve understanding of processes that enhance recognition of diverse groups and so contribute to national cohesion and well-being.This project seeks to explain in comparative perspective why only some places have extended rights to Afrodescendent populations while others have failed to do so. Two places with opposite trajectories of political recognition or lack thereof of Afrodescendent populations are investigated. It is hypothesized that the differences are due to differences in long-term projects of nation-state formation, practices of ethno-political organization, and critical junctures of regime change. A key analytical approach to critical junctures is to disentangle the analysis of local settings where mobilization processes emerge from the analysis of national arenas where political claims are recognized.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.