Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Analysis of Rapid Cultural Change

人们有多重重叠和交叉的身份，包括他们的生理、健康和社会经济地位，这些身份定义了他们是谁，以及他们如何与他人互动。这些身份可以被用来根据社会环境赋予个人和社区权力或剥夺其权利。人口变化（移民）或政治动荡引发的社会环境破坏可以改变这些身份的社会意义。在这个广阔的背景下，在匹兹堡大学玛格丽特·贾德博士的指导下，博士生黛博拉·内迪奇将调查一段社会政治动荡时期后人类流动对身份建构的影响。该项目对身份的物质能指以及文化过程与生物学之间的关系的研究做出了贡献；它也可能指出在社会政治变革中出现的历史上公认的群体的起源。这一点尤其重要，因为它可以作为当代移民的现代社会政治问题的历史类比，突出了由移民和移徙者锻造的多样化历史。通过这项研究获得的信息将成为Neidich女士论文的基础，并可通过电子方式以及一系列学术出版物获得。Neidich将使用一系列来源，包括骨骼生物特征（年龄、性别和活动的化学标记）和生物压力和饮食的骨骼证据。碳和氮的稳定同位素分析增加了饮食特征，而坟墓物品分析提供了有关地位和性别的信息。综合起来，这些数据可以识别出突出的社会类别，以回答以下三个问题：(1)一个人的身份的哪些方面对于一个社区在一个人的葬礼上标记是重要的？(2)社会差异是否表现为健康、创伤和饮食方面的差异，与过去的身份认同有关？(3)在政治变革和稳定时期，对这些类别的看法是否发生了转变？这项工作将确定在一段较长时间内身份和流动性的转变。该项目将评估人口、健康、饮食和物资分配方面的变化模式，以评价在此之前身份是如何表达和转变的。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。

People have multiple overlapping and intersecting identities including their biology, health and socioeconomic status, that define who they are and how they interact with others. These identities can be used to empower or disenfranchise individuals and communities based on social milieu. Disruptions to social environments initiated by changing demographics (migration) or political upheaval can transform the social significance of these identities. Within this broad context and under the supervision of Dr. Margaret Judd of the University of Pittsburgh, doctoral candidate Deborah Neidich will investigate the impact of human mobility on identity construction following a period sociopolitical turmoil. This project contributes to the body of research regarding material signifiers of identity and the relationship between cultural processes and biology; it may also point to the origins of historically recognized groups that emerged during sociopolitical change. This is particularly important as it may serve as a historical analogy to modern sociopolitical issues regarding contemporary migration by highlighting a diverse history that was forged by migrations and migrants. The information obtained through this research will be the foundation for Ms Neidich’s dissertation and available electronically as well as in a series of academic publications.Ms. Neidich will use a range of sources including the skeletal biological profile (age, sex, and chemical markers of mobility) and skeletal evidence for biological stress and diet. Stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen adds a dietary signature, while grave goods analysis provides information concerning status and gender. Combined, the data can identify salient social categories to answer the following three questions: (1) Which aspects of a person’s identity were important for a community to mark at a person’s burial? (2) Were social disparities expressed as differences in health, trauma and diet, related to identity in the past? (3) Was there a shift in the perception of these categories during political change and periods of stability? This work will identify transitions in identity and mobility over an extended period of time. The project will assess patterns of change in demography, health, diet and grave good distribution to evaluate how identities were expressed prior to and transformed.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.