Collaborative Research: The Violence of "Small Wars," Poverty, and Health in Three Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya

由西密歇根大学的比林达·S·斯特雷特博士和亚利桑那大学的艾薇·L·派克博士领导的一个国际人类学家小组将调查肯尼亚波科特、桑布鲁和图尔卡纳牧民社区之间与社会和健康相关的暴力问题。研究人员将寻求确定长期、低强度的暴力如何创造出一类特殊的弱势和贫困人口，使暴力造成的不平等有别于其他形式的贫困和不平等。这项研究的区域范围还将当前的暴力情况置于边缘化的更大背景下，这使得能够细致入微地说明影响族群间暴力不同经历的社会和政治因素。为了创建一项以民族志为导向的暴力与健康流行病学研究，研究人员将使用混合方法。该小组将对彼此长期冲突的三个相邻族裔社区的两个社区(一个在暴力边界，一个远离暴力冲突边界)的180户家庭(约900-2700人)进行抽样。将收集的数据包括：1)评估营养状况的人体测量方法；2)通过个人访谈评估与暴力有关的发病率/死亡率和重大伤害；3)就项目的主要主题进行定性访谈；4)每个社区暴力事件的口述历史；6)财富评估；7)收集每个地区卫生诊所的数据，以评估使用模式和死亡趋势。这项研究很重要，因为它将使社会科学家能够更好地理解慢性、低强度暴力、健康和不平等之间的关系。这项研究将产生第一批将增加的、低水平的武装冲突与健康经历的变化直接联系起来的数据集之一。这项研究也具有实际意义。卫生研究是一种新兴的社会宣传工具，也是一种政治中立的国际外交工具。这项研究还建立了美国、德国、肯尼亚和挪威研究人员之间的国际合作，并支持研究生的实地培训。

Led by Dr. Bilinda S. Straight (Western Michigan University) and Dr. Ivy L. Pike (University of Arizona), an international team of anthropologists will investigate the social and health-related dimensions of violence among Pokot, Samburu, and Turkana pastoralist communities in Kenya. The researchers will seek to determine how chronic, low-intensity violence creates a special class of vulnerable and impoverished persons, making violence-created inequality distinct from other forms of poverty and inequality. The study's regional scope additionally places the current circumstances of violence into a larger context of marginalization, which permits a nuanced account of the social and political factors that shape the different experiences of intercommunity violence. To create an ethnographically driven epidemiological study of violence and health, the researchers will use a mixed-methods approach. The team will sample 180 households (approximately 900-2700 individuals) in two communities (one at the borders of the violence, one removed from the borders of violent conflict) in each of three adjacent ethnic communities in chronic conflict with one another. The data to be collected include: 1) Anthropometric measures to assess nutritional condition; 2) Assessments of violence related morbidity/mortality and major injury through individual interviews; 3) Qualitative interviews on the project's key themes; 4) Oral histories of violent events for each community; 6) Wealth assessments; 7) Collection of data from health clinics in each region to evaluate patterns of use and mortality trends. The research is important because it will allow social scientists to better understand the relationship between chronic, low-intensity violence, health, and inequality. The research will produce one of the first data sets that directly link increased, low-level armed conflict and shifts in health experiences. The research also has practical implications. Health research is an emerging tool for social advocacy and a politically neutral tool for international diplomacy. The research also builds international collaborations between American, German, Kenyan, and Norwegian researchers, and supports the field training of a graduate student.