Doctoral Dissertation Research: Women's Child Support Claims and Household Dynamics

密歇根大学博士候选人布雷迪格塞尔博士的监督下，亚当阿什福斯，将研究妇女的子女抚养索赔在重塑家庭动态的作用，以及如何儿童抚养政策塑造妇女的政治身份。在南非，国家预算的近5%用于儿童支助赠款，这已成为主要的扶贫工具。这项建议是针对德班的妇女提出的，她们不仅从国家补助金，而且从教会、家庭成员、非政府组织和父亲那里寻求各种形式的支助。这些支持来源要求妇女体现不同的人格（例如，好公民，关怀的母亲）来证明他们的权利。本研究探讨这些不同的自我介绍如何塑造妇女的关系与支持来源，以及如何收到的资源影响家庭内的关系。在12个月的实地研究中，G 'sell将利用各种定性方法。这将包括：（1）参与观察和分析妇女寻求支助的互动;（2）与妇女、大家庭、父亲以及非政府组织、政府办公室和其他提供妇女支助的机构的工作人员进行访谈;以及（3）大众印刷媒体的选择性样本的内容分析，围绕儿童抚养政策的立法辩论，和儿童抚养法庭案件自1960年以来，跟踪突出的主题和他们的纵向共振在国家想象力。通过定位在南非这项研究，这项研究提供了一个独特的见解，在全球范围内，国家援助发挥越来越重要的作用，更广泛的社会问题。它认为如何赠款数字作为一个战略，其中许多采购儿童的支持，把它放在一个更大的网络的家庭，机构和社区关系。这项研究将揭示国家政策对家庭关系、家庭结构和婚姻习俗的意外后果，并鼓励在政策设计和执行中考虑这些因素。该研究有助于培养人类学博士生。

University of Michigan doctoral candidate Brady G'sell, under the supervision of Dr. Adam Ashforth, will examine the role of women's child support claims in remaking household dynamics and how child support policy shapes women's political identities. In South Africa, nearly 5% of the country's national budget funds a child support grant which has become the central poverty alleviation tool. This proposal follows women in the city of Durban as they seek support in various forms from not only the state grant, but also churches, family members, NGOs, and fathers. These sources of support demand that women embody different personae (e.g., the good citizen, the caring mother) to justify their entitlement. This research asks how these diverse self presentations shape women's relationships with support sources and how the received resources affect relationships within the household. Over 12 months of field research, G'sell will utilize a variety of qualitative methods. This will involve (1) participant observation and analysis of women's support seeking interactions; (2) interviews with women, extended family, fathers, and staff at NGOs, government offices, and other institutions that offer women support; and (3) content analysis of a selective sample of popular print media, legislative debates around child support policy, and child support court cases since 1960 to track salient themes and their longitudinal resonances in national imagination.By locating this study in South Africa, this research offers a unique insight into broader social issues in a global context where state assistance plays an increasingly critical role. It considers how the grant figures as one strategy among many for procuring child support, placing it in a larger network of familial, institutional, and community relations. This research will reveal the unintended consequences of state policy on family relationships, household structure, and marriage practices and will encourage such considerations in policy design and implementation. The research contributes to the training of a doctoral student in anthropology.