China Sajadian received a National Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (CA-DDRIG) of $25,177 to conduct fieldwork for her dissertation research, “Economic Effects of Refugee Resettlement.”

The research supported by this award asks, how are agrarian regions that border conflict-ridden countries affected by forced migration? Social scientists increasingly recognize that displacement is often long-term. Therefore, policy makers must pursue alternatives to temporary refugee camps. But to do this effectively, policy makers need more information about how displaced populations affect the economic and social conditions of the regions where they settle. Long-distance migrations to Europe have garnered recent headlines, but refugees more typically flee to nearby countries, often to regions where they or their kin have previous social relationships. As governments negotiate the distribution of responsibility for hosting these displaced populations, finding sustainable and security-appropriate solutions to today’s worldwide migration crisis has become a matter of concern everywhere, including in the United States.