Jennifer Erickson, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, "Social Citizenship in a Neoliberal Era."
I’ve focused my research on refugee populations in Fargo, North Dakota. I examine historical, economic, and cultural reasons why Roma are deemed unworthy citizens and compare these with factors affecting non-Romani Bosnian Muslims and Southern Sudanese. Ultimately, my dissertation aims to show that a comparative methodology combined with an understanding of political economy, culture, and identity can help us better understand citizenship, belonging, and the kinds of racialized, gendered, and class hierarchies that form and become solidified in everyday practices in institutions. I will also provide recommendations on how to decrease the negative impacts of these hierarchies and better serve refugee clients.
Social Citizenship in a Neoliberal Era
Scholars show that welfare policies affect women and men differently due to gender-based relationships with the state, which involve, for example, expectations about child rearing and shifting expectations regarding paid labor. Welfare policies negatively affect many refugee and immigrant groups in the United States by pushing them into the lowest paid sector of the economy. As a cultural project, neoliberal agendas have broadly succeeded in shaping public opinion toward an increased reliance on individual merit, consumerism, volunteerism, and distrust of government.