Doctoral Dissertation Research: Religion, Migration, and the Boundaries of Political Belonging

庇护所在移民中发挥着越来越重要的作用，因为庇护案件由各种行为者和实体裁决。这篇博士论文研究了寻求庇护者的宗教避难所如何与政府的庇护决定相交，以了解国家和非世俗实体之间的边界是否以及如何受到跨国政治的影响。除了对美国研究生进行科学数据收集方面的培训外，这项研究还揭示了为寻求庇护的个人提供的保护，并广泛传播结果。这个项目还扩大了历史上代表性不足的群体在科学领域的参与。这个博士论文项目调查了政府和宗教机构如何对庇护进行不同的解释和谈判。博士生结合参与者观察、半结构访谈和档案研究方法，实证检验：1)政府评估庇护申请中困难证据的标准；2)宗教机构决定被拒绝的寻求庇护者是否有资格获得庇护保护的标准；3)来自不同宗教、国家和种族背景的被拒绝的寻求庇护者如何以不同的方式进入避难所；4)政府和宗教机构在避难所谈判期间如何理解和重新定义对方的权威。该项目通过将注意力转移到国家和非国家实体之间的交叉来合作定义政治归属，从而为移民的社会科学研究做出贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Sanctuary plays an increasingly central role in immigration as asylum cases are adjudicated by various actors and entities. This doctoral dissertation research examines how religious sanctuary for asylum-seekers intersects with governmental asylum decisions to understand whether and how the boundaries between state and non-secular entities are affected by transnational politics. In addition to training a U.S.-based graduate student in scientific data collection, the research sheds light on protections afforded to individuals seeking asylum and disseminates results broadly. This project also broadens the participation of historically underrepresented groups in science.This doctoral dissertation project investigates how governments and religious institutions differentially interpret and negotiate asylum. The doctoral student integrates participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and archival research methods to empirically examine: 1) the criteria by which governments evaluate evidence of hardship in asylum applications, 2) the criteria by which religious institutions determine if a rejected asylum-seeker is eligible for sanctuary protections; 3) how rejected asylum-seekers from different religious, national, and ethnic backgrounds navigate sanctuary differently and; 4) how governments and religious institutions come to understand and redefine each other’s authority during sanctuary negotiations. The project contributes to social scientific studies of migration by shifting attention toward intersections between the state and non-state entities as cooperating to define political belonging.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.