Doctoral Dissertation Research: Drivers and consequences of intermarriage on social networks and risk-buffering

当不同文化、种族和/或宗教背景的夫妇结婚时，群体之间的界限就会打破。这对夫妇、他们的家庭和社区间的关系都有影响。通婚可能提供获得新资源和社交网络的机会，但也可能带来社会耻辱和失去纳塔尔社区支持等代价。这个博士论文项目探讨了在个人，家庭和社区层面上通婚的驱动力和障碍，以加深我们对当代异质社会如何形成的理解，以及社区异质性对社交网络和资源短缺的弹性的影响。该项目将在人类学和社会学数据收集和分析方面培训一名研究生和其他实地研究人员;结果将广泛传播给参与社区、学术界和广大公众。研究人员将在两个相邻的多民族社区进行研究，这些社区的经济广泛依赖于小规模的商业园艺。利用社区成员的社会关系、经济多样化和对邻近民族的文化信仰等数据，研究人员将分析哪些因素可以预测通婚，并测试通婚在多大程度上弥合了社区成员之间的社会分歧。这项研究将有助于为人类学中围绕亲属关系结构如何形成的长期争论提供信息，以及面对资源短缺时群体间合作对复原力的影响。这项研究也将作为社会科学家研究移民和文化多元化对文化身份和种族冲突的影响的案例研究。这个奖项反映了NSF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。

Boundaries between groups break down when couples marry across different cultural, ethnic and/or religious affiliations. This has consequences on couples, their families, and inter-community relationships. Intermarriage may provide access to new resources and social networks, but may also involve costs such as social stigma and loss of support in the natal community. This doctoral dissertation project explores the drivers of and impediments to intermarriage at the individual, household, and community levels in order to deepen our understanding of how contemporary heterogeneous societies take shape, as well as the effects of community heterogeneity on social networks and resilience to resource shortfalls. The project will train a graduate student and other field researchers in anthropological and sociological data collection and analysis; results will be disseminated widely to participant communities, academics, and the broader public. The researchers will carry out the study in two neighboring multi-ethnic communities whose economies rely extensively on small-scale commercial horticulture. Using data on community members’ social ties, economic diversification, and cultural beliefs about neighboring ethnic groups, the researchers will analyze what factors predict intermarriage and test the extent to which intermarriage bridges social divides between community members. This study will help inform longstanding debates in anthropology surrounding how kinship structures form, and the effects of intergroup cooperation on resilience in the face of resource shortfalls. This research will also serve as a case study for social scientists studying the impacts of migration and cultural pluralism on cultural identities and ethnic conflicts.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.