SGER: A Nation Divided: Immigration and Citizenship on the Border

2008年7月，在德克萨斯州的下里约热内卢格兰德河谷，美国政府开始建设计划修建的700英里边界围栏的一部分。这个具有纪念意义的项目，再加上美国总统大选进一步聚焦了本已高度关注的“非法”移民热点问题，使这成为一个历史性的时刻，并使下里约热内卢格兰德山谷（南德克萨斯州）成为一个独特的现场。人类学家米格尔·迪亚斯-巴里加（Miguel Diaz-Barriga）和玛格丽特·多尔西（Margaret Dorsey）在他们的调查前研究中发现，在移民和边境围栏建设这两个问题上，墨西哥裔美国人的地方观点与基于政策的国家观点之间存在脱节。人种学家计划了解这种脱节是否真的存在，如果存在，它存在的程度除了了解墨西哥裔美国人对移民政策的看法，他们对移民的感受，以及边境围栏的建设。该研究将于2008年9月开始在伊达尔戈县进行，为期五个月（2008年9月至2009年1月）。民族志学家将采用三种方法：在各种基层论坛上进行参与性观察；深度访谈;并分析与移民和边境围栏有关的媒体，如英语和西班牙语的电视节目、新闻文章、小册子和广播评论。研究人员将在伊达尔戈县的一系列聚集地进行人种学的实地调查，比如当地的墨西哥快餐店、退伍军人会馆以及民主党和共和党赞助的活动。研究人员将对一系列相关人士进行更广泛的采访：现任州参议员和国会议员、候选人、政党参与者、边境墙联盟的积极分子、商界领袖、当地居民、边境土地所有者和环保主义者。这个项目展示了在国家和地方关于移民的辩论中经常缺失的观点——墨西哥裔美国人边境居民自己的观点。因此，它也将有助于对移民有更全面、更细致和更多方面的理解，并积极地为公共政策提供信息。

In July 2008 in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the United States government began construction on a section of the projected seven hundred mile border fence. This monumental project, combined with the U.S. presidential election further focusing already heightened national attention on the hot-button issue of "illegal" immigration, makes this an historic moment and the Lower Rio Grande Valley (South Texas) a unique field site. Anthropologists Miguel Diaz-Barriga and Margaret Dorsey, in their pre-investigative research, found a disconnect between local, Mexican American perspectives and national, policy-based perspectives on the twin issues of immigration and the construction of the border fence. The ethnographers plan to learn if this disconnect actually exists and if so, the extent to which it exists in addition to learning what Mexican Americans think about immigration policy, how they experience immigration, and the construction of the border fence. The research will be conducted starting in September 2008 in Hidalgo County for five months (September 2008-January 2009). The ethnographers will employ three methodologies: participant observation at a variety of grassroots forums; in-depth interviews; and analysis of immigration and border fence-related media such as television programs, news articles, pamphlets, and radio commentary in both English and Spanish. The researchers will conduct ethnographic fieldwork at a range of gathering spots in Hidalgo County such as popular, locally-owned taquerias, veteran's halls, and Democratic and Republican Party sponsored events. The researchers will conduct more extensive interviews with a range of relevant people: current state senators and congress members, candidates, participants in the political parties, and activists in border wall coalitions, an amalgam of business leaders, local residents, border land owners, and environmentalists. This project presents perspectives often missing in national and local debates over immigration--that of Mexican American border residents themselves. As such, it will also contribute to a more informed, nuanced, and multifaceted understanding of immigration and positively inform public policy.