Doctoral Dissertation Research: Factors Influencing Disproportionality in Land Dispossession

本博士论文研究项目有助于理解人类学和社会法学研究中的所有权、财产和土地剥夺之间的关系。该研究中心的官僚机构，法律的倡导者和土地所有者在定义和重新定义财产所有权的法律的边界之间的动态相互作用。剥夺土地在很大程度上加剧了经济不平等和不稳定，特别是对边缘化的土地所有者而言。该项目旨在扩大对社会经济不平等和财产如何与社会政治和经济流动性交织在一起的理解。除了培养科学数据收集和分析的研究生，这项研究揭示了当代法律的和政治挑战的土地所有者在美国面临的，并扩大了在不同的社会背景下的土地掠夺现象的研究。该项目的调查结果和数据正在向学术和非学术受众传播。研究问题是：（1）财产所有权的种类有哪些？(2)财产所有权的具体形式是否增加了边缘化土地所有者被剥夺财产的风险？(3)州和地方官僚系统以何种方式与当地私人和公共基础设施项目交织在一起，可能会促进土地流失（4）弱势土地所有者采取何种策略来避免被剥夺土地并收回因被剥夺而失去的土地？（5）土地和财产所有权如何影响公民身份和归属感的理解？该项目通过一系列人种学和社会法律研究方法，包括参与观察、土地契约的法律的档案搜索、法律的术语的社会历史分析以及对法律的争端的跟踪，具体探讨了围绕土地剥夺的复杂性层面。该项目有助于更广泛地讨论公民身份、权利和归属。审查法律的分类可能会揭示一些土地所有者土地损失增加的不成比例的促成因素。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

This doctoral dissertation research project contributes to understandings of the relationship between title, property, and land dispossession in anthropological science and sociolegal studies. The research centers on the dynamic interplay between bureaucratic institutions, legal advocates, and landowners in defining and redefining the legal boundaries of property ownership. Land dispossession is contributing significantly to vast economic inequity and instability, particularly for marginalized landowners. The project aims to expand understandings of how socioeconomic inequalities and property are intertwined with socio-political and economic mobility. In addition to training a graduate student in scientific data collection and analysis, this research sheds light on contemporary legal and political challenges landowners face in the United States and broadens studies on the phenomena of land grabbing in diverse social contexts. Findings and data from this project are being disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences. The research questions are: (1) What are the categories of property ownership? (2) Do specific forms of property ownership create an increased risk of dispossession for marginalized landowners? (3) In what ways are state and local bureaucratic systems intertwined with local private and public infrastructure projects that may facilitate land loss (4) What strategies do vulnerable landowners engage in to avoid dispossession and reclaim lands lost to dispossession? and (5) How do land and property ownership factor into understandings of citizenship and belonging? The project specifically explores the layers of complexity surrounding land dispossession through a range of ethnographic and sociolegal research methods, including participant observation, legal archival searches of land deeds, sociohistorical analyses of legal terminology, and the tracking of legal disputes. The project contributes to broader discussions on citizenship, rights, and belonging. Examining legal classifications may reveal contributing factors that disproportionately contribute to an increase in land loss for some landowners.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.