Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Impact of Migration on the Psychosocial Well-Being of Youth

俄勒冈州立大学博士生杰米·佩茨将在肯尼斯·梅斯博士的指导下进行研究，研究移民对年轻人心理社会福祉的影响过程。这项研究的重点是一群被收养的埃塞俄比亚出生的青年，他们已经移民到美国，因为空前数量的埃塞俄比亚青年移民到美国或被美国的父母收养。尽管被收养的青年和移民青年有着共同的民族血统，但他们在移民前的情况、移民机制和移民后的情况可能会非常不同。研究人员的目标是在塑造移民过程的社会网络和跨国政治经济的背景下理解移民。该项目将在美国太平洋西北地区进行为期12个月的人种学田野调查。研究人员将结合生物文化人类学理论和创新方法，包括生活史访谈、参与者观察和半结构化访谈，以期在政治经济背景下，针对青年在塑造其利基、关系和抱负方面的机构。关于收养的人类学主要关注亲属关系和身份认同。这项关于儿童发展的生物生态文化研究可以揭示跨国移民和被收养的青年发展知识和技能、关系、抱负以及对当地和全球社会等级观念的日常生活。此外，这项研究将有助于更全面地了解收养和移民儿童面临的挑战，其结果可用于为旨在支持居住在美国的埃塞俄比亚青年和家庭福祉的公共政策提供信息。该项目还有助于培养一名研究生。

Oregon State University doctoral candidate Jamie Petts, supervised by Dr. Kenneth Maes, will undertake research to study the processes through which migration impacts the psychosocial well-being of youth. The study is focused on a group of adopted Ethiopian-born youth who have migrated to the United States, as an unprecedented number of Ethiopian youth migrate to or are adopted by parents in the U.S. Though adopted and migrant youth share a common national origin, their pre-migration situations, mechanisms of migration, and post-migration situations may be very different. The researcher's goal is to understand migration within the context of the social networks and the transnational political-economies that shape the migration process. The project will involve 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The researcher will bring together biocultural anthropological theories and innovative methods, including life history interviews, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews to target the agency of youth in shaping their niches, relationships, and aspirations, within political-economic context. The anthropology of adoption has focused largely on kinship and identity. This bioecocultural study of child development can shed light on the daily routines in which transnational migrant and adopted youth develop knowledge and skills, relationships, aspirations, and a sense of local and global social hierarchies. Moreover, this study will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges adopted and migrant children face and the results may be used to inform public policy aimed at supporting the well-being of Ethiopian youth and families living in the U.S. This project also contributes to the training of a graduate student.