Doctoral Dissertation Research: Drivers and consequences of intermarriage on social networks and risk-buffering

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Boundaries between groups break down when couples marry across different cultural, ethnic and/or religious affiliations. This has consequences on couples, their families, and inter-community relationships. Intermarriage may provide access to new resources and social networks, but may also involve costs such as social stigma and loss of support in the natal community. This doctoral dissertation project explores the drivers of and impediments to intermarriage at the individual, household, and community levels in order to deepen our understanding of how contemporary heterogeneous societies take shape, as well as the effects of community heterogeneity on social networks and resilience to resource shortfalls. The project will train a graduate student and other field researchers in anthropological and sociological data collection and analysis; results will be disseminated widely to participant communities, academics, and the broader public. The researchers will carry out the study in two neighboring multi-ethnic communities whose economies rely extensively on small-scale commercial horticulture. Using data on community members’ social ties, economic diversification, and cultural beliefs about neighboring ethnic groups, the researchers will analyze what factors predict intermarriage and test the extent to which intermarriage bridges social divides between community members. This study will help inform longstanding debates in anthropology surrounding how kinship structures form, and the effects of intergroup cooperation on resilience in the face of resource shortfalls. This research will also serve as a case study for social scientists studying the impacts of migration and cultural pluralism on cultural identities and ethnic conflicts.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.