Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Status and Civic Engagement Among Refugees

南卫理公会大学博士生Shay Cannedy在Caroline Brettell博士的指导下，将进行民族志研究，探讨政治庇护的削减和随之而来的“部分法律的成员资格”程度如何影响移民的公民参与。具体而言，在审查居住在爱尔兰的来自刚果民主共和国的寻求庇护者和难民的样本时，她将探讨移民如何在受到法律的和社会排斥的情况下要求在社会中的存在和合法性。该项目询问移民如何与他们的新环境进行公民接触，以及如何通过法律的地位，社会经济因素和移民前的经验影响归属的出价。研究人员将进行为期12个月的实地研究，并利用社会科学方法的组合，采用解释性和探索性的元素，其中包括：问卷调查，以产生人口统计和公民参与的总体趋势的基线数据;深入访谈，以捕捉公民身份和归属感的看法，对公民参与的态度，和种族认同;参与观察各种社区活动，如自愿协会会议、民族节日、宗教仪式和政治抗议;以及相关媒体和移民立法和政策的内容分析，以了解移民如何在公共话语和移民法中构建。将有助于从社会科学角度理解，在加强移民控制的时代，难民如何通过实践而不是法律，按照自己的条件要求合法存在。它侧重于这一进程的社会经济层面以及它如何与法律的地位相互交叉，将使人们更深入地了解移徙者如何进入公共领域以实现社会变革，这对理论家和决策者都至关重要。资助这项研究也有助于研究生的教育。

Southern Methodist University doctoral student Shay Cannedy, under the guidance of Dr. Caroline Brettell, will undertake ethnographic research on how the retrenchment of political asylum and concomitant degrees of "partial legal membership" impact civic engagement among migrants. Specifically, in examining a sample of asylum seekers and refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who reside in Ireland, she will explore how migrants claim presence and legitimacy in society despite their legal and social exclusion. The project asks how migrants civically engage with their new surroundings and how bids for belonging are impacted by legal status, socioeconomic factors, and pre-migration experiences. The researcher will undertake 12 months of field research, and utilize a combination of social scientific methods that employ both explanatory and exploratory elements, which include: questionnaires to generate baseline data on demographics and overall trends in civic engagement; in-depth interviews to capture perceptions of citizenship and belonging, attitudes toward civic engagement, and ethnic identity; participant observation at a variety of community events such as voluntary association meetings, ethnic festivals, religious ceremonies, and political protests; and a content analysis of relevant media and immigration legislation and policy to understand how migrants are constructed in public discourse and immigration law.Findings from this research will contribute to social scientific understanding of how, in an era of heightened immigration control, refugees are claiming legitimate presence on their own terms through practice rather than law. Its focus on the socioeconomic dimensions of this process and how it intersects with legal status will yield greater insight into how migrants enter the public sphere to enact social change which is critical for theorists and policy makers alike. Funding this research also contributes to the education of a graduate student.