Doctoral Dissertation Research: Differential Recognition of Two Afrodescendent Populations, 1970-2018

这个项目调查了为什么权利只对一些非洲裔人口颁布和实施。自20世纪80年代以来，在许多地方，非洲裔运动在政治上可见，在文化上引起共鸣，但他们的权利一直未能得到实质性承认。为了理解为什么只有一些地方扩大了非洲人后裔的权利，而其他地方却没有这样做，本研究比较了两个地方对非洲人后裔的不同认识。数据来自访谈、两地的档案记录和12个月的参与者观察。这项研究的结果将增进对各种过程的理解，从而提高对不同群体的认识，从而促进国家凝聚力和福祉。本项目试图从比较的角度解释为什么只有一些地方将权利扩大到非洲裔人口，而其他地方却没有这样做。非洲裔人口的政治承认或缺乏相反轨迹的两个地方进行了调查。据推测，这些差异是由于民族国家形成的长期项目、民族政治组织的实践和政权更迭的关键时刻的差异。关键时刻的一项关键分析方法是将对出现动员进程的地方环境的分析与对政治要求得到承认的国家领域的分析分开。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates why rights have been enacted and implemented only for some Afrodescendent populations. In many places, Afrodescendent movements have been politically visible and culturally resonant since the 1980s and yet they have been unable to achieve substantive recognition of their rights. To achieve understanding of why only some places have extended rights to Afrodescendent populations while others have failed to do so, this study compares the differential recognition of Afrodescendent populations in two places. Data come from interviews, archival records in both places, and 12 months of participant observation. Findings from this research will improve understanding of processes that enhance recognition of diverse groups and so contribute to national cohesion and well-being.This project seeks to explain in comparative perspective why only some places have extended rights to Afrodescendent populations while others have failed to do so. Two places with opposite trajectories of political recognition or lack thereof of Afrodescendent populations are investigated. It is hypothesized that the differences are due to differences in long-term projects of nation-state formation, practices of ethno-political organization, and critical junctures of regime change. A key analytical approach to critical junctures is to disentangle the analysis of local settings where mobilization processes emerge from the analysis of national arenas where political claims are recognized.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.