Dissertation Research: Migrant Youth in a Shadow Economy: Liberian Child Soldiers in Cape Town, South Africa

研究生詹姆斯·威廉姆斯将在简·居耶博士的指导下，对参加利比里亚内战的利比里亚青年进行研究，这些青年在2004年解除武装后移民到南非开普敦。利比里亚青年是越来越多的无人陪伴的儿童和青年的代表，他们越过国界寻找工作和躲避战争。这项研究考察了年轻移民的经济活动和他们的生存策略，并询问他们的调查能力在多大程度上依赖于在战争中学到的技能和行为，以及开普敦--一个全球城市--的城市环境如何使这种机会成为可能。研究人员将使用定性和定量的民族志田野方法来了解将利比里亚青年作为群体的纽带的性质，并允许他们在非正规经济中运作。这些方法将包括参与者观察、生活史访谈、焦点跟踪以及收集以自我为中心的整个网络数据，以确定群体的内部结构和外部关系。以前对前儿童兵的研究将他们描绘成暴力的受害者或代理人。相比之下，开普敦的利比里亚前儿童兵在南非人看来是成功的，能够在国家或家庭机构之外维持自己。该项目将有助于了解无人陪伴青年的其他发展轨迹，从而为有关暴力和儿童的社会科学理论和政策作出贡献。该奖项还支持社会科学家的教育。

Graduate student James Williams, supervised by Dr. Jane I. Guyer, will undertake research on Liberian youth who participated in the civil war in Liberia and who, following disarmament in 2004, migrated to Cape Town, South Africa. Liberian youth are representatives of a growing population of unaccompanied children and youth who cross national borders in search of employment and refuge from war. The study examines the economic activities of the young migrants and their strategies for survival and asks to what extent their ability to survey depends upon skills and behaviors learned in war and how the urban environment of Cape Town -- a global city -- might make such opportunity possible.The researcher will use qualitative and quantitative ethnographic field methods to understand the nature of the ties that hold Liberian youth as groups and allow them to operate within the informal economy. These methods will include participant observation, life history interviews, focal follows, and the collection of ego-focused and whole network data to determine the internal structures of the groups and their external relations.Previous research on former child soldiers has portrayed them as either victims or agents of violence. In contrast, Liberian former child soldiers in Cape Town are viewed by South Africans as successful in being able to maintain themselves outside of either state or family institutions. This project will help to understand alternative trajectories for unaccompanied youth and thus contribute to social science theory and policy concerning violence and children. This award also supports the education of a social scientist.