Doctoral Dissertation Research: International Migration from Ecuador's Southern Andes: The Embeddedness of Migration Process in Daily Life

厄瓜多尔1990年代末的经济危机导致安第斯南部阿苏艾省和卡纳尔省的跨国移徙网络迅速扩大。以前的奖学金研究移民汇款对厄瓜多尔的影响，而本项目则研究与移民有关的进程如何成为这一移民率高的地区人民日常生活的重要组成部分。该研究将调查美国和厄瓜多尔试图阻止非法移民的政策之间的关系，以及与启动国际移民有关的当地经验。该项目提出了以下问题：1）美国和厄瓜多尔政府的政策与厄瓜多尔向美国移民的行业和过程之间的关系是什么？2）这些行业和流程以何种方式嵌入阿苏艾和卡纳尔的日常政治、经济和社会生活？混合方法分析将提供关于移徙政策背后的战略和影响以及向外移徙在当地生活中的作用的数据。研究将涉及与厄瓜多尔政策制定者的深入访谈;美国移民和海关执法人员在厄瓜多尔;非国家组织，地方官员和美国移民家庭。方法还将包括参与者观察和住户调查。实地工作将在基多（厄瓜多尔首都）以及阿苏艾省和卡尼亚尔省的三个城市进行，为期九个月。调查结果将解决国家和国际对非法移民的做法，以及个人的看法，决定和行动之间的脱节。研究人员将探讨在远离移徙者和潜在移徙者日常生活的环境中制定的移徙控制政策产生了什么样的结果，这项研究的结果将有助于移徙者原籍国和目的地国的政策制定。在全球南方的来源国，国际移徙已成为经济的核心，并日益引起政治、经济和文化关注。与此同时，随着美国推行更严格的移民政策，并鼓励其他国家也这样做，本项目评估了这种做法的广泛影响。通过在移民原籍地进行研究，该研究旨在更好地了解移民渗透到始发地区日常生活的许多方式。因此，该项目将有助于关于移民政策与个人移民决定之间关系的辩论。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

Ecuador's economic crisis of the late 1990s led to rapid expansion of transnational migration networks in the southern Andean provinces of Azuay and Canar. While previous scholarship studied the effects of migrant remittances in Ecuador, this project examines ways in which the processes related to migration have themselves become an important component of daily life for people in this region of high emigration. The research will investigate the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian policies attempting to thwart illicit migration, and local experiences linked to initiating international migration. The project asks the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian government policy and the industries and processes of migration from Ecuador to the U.S.? and 2) In what ways are these industries and processes embedded in daily political, economic, and social life in Azuay and Canar? A mixed-methods analysis will provide data on the strategies behind and effects of migration policy, and the role of out-migration in local life. Research will involve in-depth interviews with Ecuadorian policy makers; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Ecuador; non-state organizations, local level officials, and households with U.S. migrants. Methods will also include participant observation and household surveys. Fieldwork will take place over nine months in Quito (Ecuador's capital) and in three cities of the Azuay and Cañar provinces. The findings will address disjunctures between national and international approaches toward illicit migration, and individuals' perceptions, decisions, and actions. The investigators will ask what kind of results are yielded by migration control policies designed in settings removed from migrants' and potential migrants' daily lives.The results of this research will contribute to policy making in countries of migrant origin and destination. In source countries of the global South, international migration has become central to the economy and is of increasing political, economic, and cultural concern. Meanwhile, as the United States pursues more restrictive immigration policies and encourages other countries to do the same, this project evaluates the wide-ranging impacts of such an approach. By conducting research in a site of migrant origin, the study aims for greater understanding of the many ways in which migration infiltrates daily life in sending areas. The project will therefore contribute to debates concerning the relationship between immigration policy and individual decisions regarding emigration. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.