Doctoral Dissertation Research: Migration and State Regulation in the Wake of Economic Crisis

人们的行动能力受到高度管制，尽管往往是以他们不知道的方式：车辆登记，执照，身份证，护照，许可证，警察，停车标志，道路柏油等，但经济和政治危机可以突然加强这些形式的管制。面对持续和即时的监管，人们对流动性、治理和公民身份的概念是如何表达和转变的？该项目培训研究生如何进行严格的、有科学依据的实地考察，研究经济危机后哪些因素有助于有效的公民/国家关系和治理。斯坦福大学博士候选人凯瑟琳·塔卡布维瓦在詹姆斯·弗格森博士的监督下，将探讨监管机构和受监管者如何在经济危机后引导旨在限制流动性的政府监管项目。津巴布韦是移徙方面公民身份与合法性联系的理想场所。该国正在摆脱特殊的经济危机，2008年通货膨胀率超过89%，令人震惊的是，10%至42%的人口离开该国，并定期在津巴布韦和南非等邻国之间迁移。在这种情况下，高度流动时代的全球关切问题更加突出。研究人员将通过一项为期13个月的人种学研究来探索这些问题。该项目采取多种方法，使用定性和定量数据，采用参与者观察、深入访谈、调查方法、档案工作和材料分析。这项研究有助于更好、更细致地了解危机后社会的经验。它促进了对公民身份和社会性如何在公民/国家参与日常生活的空间中形成的理解。它超越了将发展中国家简单地视为陷入腐败的传统方法，以实证方式研究政策和做法实际上是如何经历的，并提出了对公民身份和治理的更微妙的理解。

People's ability to move is highly regulated, though often in ways they are unaware of: vehicle registration, licenses, IDs, passports, permits, policing, stop signs, the tarring of roads, etc. But economic and political crises can suddenly harden these forms of regulation. How are people's conceptions of mobility, governance, and citizenship expressed and transformed in the face of constant and immediate regulation? This project, which trains a graduate student in how to conduct rigorous, scientifically grounded fieldwork, examines what factors contribute to effective citizen/state relations and governance in the wake of economic crisis. Stanford University doctoral candidate, Kathryn Takabvirwa, under the supervision of Dr. James Ferguson, will explore how regulators and regulated navigate government regulatory projects designed to restrict mobility following an economic crisis. Zimbabwe presents an ideal site for the nexus of citizenship and legality in the context of migration. The country is emerging from exceptional economic crisis which saw its inflation hit over 89 sextillion percent in 2008, and where a staggering 10% to 42% of the population exited the country and migrates regularly between Zimbabwe and neighboring countries like South Africa. Issues of global concern in an era of hyper-mobility are accentuated in such contexts. The researcher will explore these questions through a 13-month ethnographic study. Taking a multi-methods approach, the project uses both qualitative and quantitative data, employing participant observation, in-depth interviews, survey methods, archival work and material analysis. This study contributes to a better, more nuanced understanding of experiences in post-crisis societies. It advances understandings of how citizenship and sociality are forged in the spaces of citizen/state engagement in everyday life. It goes beyond conventional approaches that see developing countries as simply mired in corruption to empirically examine how policies and practices are actually experienced, and present a more nuanced understanding of citizenship and governance.