Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant in Cultural Anthropology: Raiding and Sovereignty in Borderlands

杜克大学博士生路易莎·隆巴德将在查尔斯·皮奥特教授的指导下，在任何一个政治实体没有明确拥有政治主权的地区，就突袭在国家形成和治理中的作用进行人种学研究。社会科学理论和国际援助机构都倾向于忽视突袭的政治作用。这位研究人员将调查两个最重要的问题：(1)什么形式的主权和治理在受袭击历史影响的边境地区运作？(2)新到达的国际治理形式如何融入和影响持续袭击存在的地方主权？研究将在中非共和国东北部边境地区进行，那里有各种重叠的力量、机构和利益集团在该地区巡逻和监管。这位研究人员将特别研究两个地点的突袭动态：一个是东北部的一个小镇，保护民兵在那里打击偷猎者；另一个是附近的一个由联合国监管的难民营。研究人员将采用多种社会科学方法，包括参与者观察、地图绘制、访谈和档案分析。这些数据将使她能够跟踪在边境地区运作的多种治理形式及其对主权、国家和国际法概念的影响。这项研究很重要，因为它将阐明在有争议的领土上治理、冲突和建设和平的复杂过程。这项研究将对治理的社会科学理论和冲突后政策制定作出贡献。资助这项研究还支持社会科学家的教育。

Duke University doctoral student Louisa Lombard, under the supervision of Professor Charles Piot, will undertake ethnographic research on the role of raiding in relation to state formation and governance, in areas where political sovereignty is not clearly held by any one political entity. Both social science theory and international aid agencies tend to sideline the political role of raiding. This researcher will investigate two overarching questions: (1) What forms of sovereignty and governance operate in borderland areas shaped by a history of raiding? (2) How do newly-arrived international forms of governance insert themselves into and affect local sovereignties where persistent raiding exists?The research will be carried out in the northeastern borderlands of the Central African Republic (CAR) where a variety of overlapping forces, institutions, and interests patrol and regulate the area. The researcher will explore the dynamics of raiding in two sites in particular: one, a northeastern town, where conservation militias combat poachers; the other, a nearby refugee camp overseen by the United Nations. The researcher will employ a mix of social science methods including participant observation, mapping, interviews, and archival analysis. These data will allow her to track the multiple forms of governance that operate in borderlands area and their implications for conceptions of sovereignty, the state, and international law. The research is important because it will illuminate complicated processes of governance, conflict, and peace-building in disputed territories. The research will contribute to social science theory of governance and to post-conflict policy creation. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.