Doctoral Dissertation Research: Group Marginality, Internal Differences, and Status Negotiations

布朗大学博士生Bhawani Buswala在Lina Fruzzetti博士的指导下，将对低地位群体的日常地位秩序谈判进行人类学研究。这项研究是重要的，因为它将有助于社会科学的理解，如何边缘化群体与主导结构，以及如何在这些群体内部的差异影响这些关系。为了有效地探讨这些问题，研究将在一个特别明显的背景下进行制度化的低地位，即所谓的“贱民”在印度。印度法律很久以前就废除了贱民制度，但许多贱民仍然受到物质和象征性的歧视。研究人员将对印度拉贾斯坦邦的贱民屠夫（Khatik）种姓进行为期12个月的人种学田野调查。尽管屠夫们质疑他们低下的社会地位，但他们也援引主导价值观来解释他们对自己工作的厌恶。这项研究将审查这种同时接受和拒绝种姓价值观的情况;收集关于哈提克妇女所面临的特殊排斥和包容的数据;并探讨哈提克与其他贱民种姓之间的互动。将通过参与者观察和半结构化非正式访谈收集关于种姓生活经验三个方面的数据：（1）屠夫对其种姓职业的物质和象征概念化;（2）这一职业中的性别差异;（3）屠夫与另一个不可接触种姓Chamars的互动。这项研究将为理解社会不平等的再现提供新的数据。 这些数据可以为打击种姓做法的公共政策提供信息。资助这项研究也支持研究生的教育。

Brown University doctoral student Bhawani Buswala, supervised by Dr. Lina Fruzzetti, will undertake anthropological research on the everyday negotiations of status order by low-status groups. This research is important because it will contribute to the social scientific understanding of how marginalized groups relate to dominant structures and how internal differences within these groups affect these relationships.To explore these issues effectively, the research will be carried out in a particularly marked context of institutionalized low status, that of so-called "untouchables" in India. Indian law abolished untouchability long ago, yet many untouchables continue to experience material and symbolic discrimination. The researcher will undertake 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork with untouchable butcher (Khatik) caste people in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Although butchers challenge their low social position, they also invoke dominant values to explain their dislike of their own work. This research will examine this simultaneous acceptance and rejection of caste values; collect data on the particular exclusions and inclusions faced by Khatik women; and explore the interaction between Khatik and other untouchable castes. Data will be gathered through participant observation and semi-structured informal interviews on three aspects of the lived experience of caste: (1) butchers' material and symbolic conceptualization of their caste occupation; (2) gender differentiation within this occupation; and (3) butcher interaction with Chamars, another untouchable caste. This research will provide new data for understanding the reproduction of inequality in society. This data can inform public policies to counter caste practices. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.