Ethnography, Oral History, and Network Analysis of Trader Behaviors and Institutions in India, Kenya, and South Sudan

圣母大学的Rahul Oka博士和Nitesh Chawla博士将研究交易者行为的原因、后果和复杂性，以及外部力量（政治稳定、贸易友好和商业机会）对印度、肯尼亚和南苏丹交易者网络转型的影响。使用民族志，口述历史和社会网络分析，他们将开发人类学研究工具，对时间和空间的特殊性敏感，但可扩展，可转移和预测。其结果将是一个跨文化的有效模型的影响，政治连通性和社交网络对人类行为的经济交换关系，可用于了解不同类型的贸易商网络如何影响当地和区域经济。研究人员将收集印度、肯尼亚和南苏丹60名贸易商的贸易商和政治网络数据。将采用两种方法收集和分析数据：a）定性民族志和口述历史的个人贸易商和他们的关系，和B）定量网络分析这些网络超过20年。 综合分析将有助于更好地了解政治地位不同的贸易商如何维持或发展其商业活动，以及这些活动如何影响更大的贸易商网络和经济。这项研究的结果将提高对商人-政治家联盟及其结果的范围和影响的理论理解。它还将为发展努力提供宝贵的工具，特别是在评估地方和区域经济对外部干预的可能反应方面。这项研究将使人类学和网络科学的理论建设的根本原因和贸易的后果及其对社会的影响。该项目还将通过实地考察，跨学科分析和专业演讲/出版物为美国本科生和研究生提供研究经验，并建立美国和国际学者之间的跨学科合作实验室。

Dr. Rahul Oka and Dr. Nitesh Chawla of the University of Notre Dame will investigate the causes, consequences, and complexities of trader behaviors and the effects of external forces (political stability, trade friendliness, and business opportunity) on trader network transformations in India, Kenya, and South Sudan. Using ethnography, oral history, and Social Network Analysis, they will develop anthropological research tools that are sensitive to temporal and spatial specificities but which are scalable, transferable, and predictive. The result will be a cross-culturally valid model of the effects of political connectivity and social networks on human behavior in economic exchange relationships that can be used to understand how different types of trader networks affect local and regional economies. The researchers will collect data on trader and political networks for a sample of 60 traders in India, Kenya, and South Sudan. Two methods will be used to collect and analyze the data: a) qualitative ethnography and oral history of individual traders and their relationships, and b) quantitative network analyses of these networks over 20 years. The combined analyses will enable a better understanding of how traders differentially placed politically maintain or develop their commercial activities and how these affect larger trader networks and economy. Findings from this research will improve theoretical understanding of the scope and impact of trader-politician alliances and their outcomes. It will also provide valuable tools for development efforts, specifically in assessing potential responses to external interventions in local and regional economies. This research will enable theory building within both anthropology and network science on the underlying causes and consequences of trade and its impact on societies. The project also will provide research experience for American undergraduate and graduate student through fieldwork, inter-disciplinary analyses, and professional presentations/publications, and establish a cross-disciplinary collaboratory between American and international scholars.