Dissertation Research: Construction of Power Relationships at the Local Level: Belizean Citrus Politics

本论文研究项目支持对伯利兹柑橘产业工人和农民的文化人类学研究。这项研究的重点是小公司和个体工人如何与柑橘行业中更强大的经济参与者打交道，以捍卫自己的利益。方法包括调查、密集访谈和参与者观察。这项研究将阐明发展项目的成功或重要性，这些项目试图使以压抑垄断方式组织起来的政治和经济制度民主化。这项研究之所以重要，是因为中美洲是半球极其重要的部分，目前正处于严重动荡之中。了解地方一级经济发展项目成功和失败的原因，以及当地行业通融或动荡的原因，有助于指导未来的政策。

This dissertation research project supports a cultural anthropological study of workers and farmers in the citrus industry in Belize. The focus of the study is in how small firms and individual workers deal with the more powerful economic actors in the citrus industry to defend their interests. Methods will include surveys, intensive interviews, and participant observation. The research will shed light on the success or importance of development projects that attempt to democratize political and economic systems that have been organized in a repressively monopolistic manner. This research is important because Central America is a vitally important part of the hemisphere that is currently subject to severe unrest. Understanding of the causes of success and failure in local-level economic development projects, and of the causes of accommodation or unrest in local industries, can help guide policy in the future.