U.S. - Argentina Planning Visit: Reframing Poverty: What Role for the Middle Classes?

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This U.S - Argentina Planning Visit proposal will support four senior researchers and two graduate students from the U.S., under the direction of Dr. Victoria Lawson of University of Washington, on two planning visits to Argentina between May, 2010 and September, 2011. The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers in sociology, political theory, the law and geography in Argentina, Norway and the U.S. The U.S. investigators will collaborate intensively with colleagues from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and from the University of Bergen, Norway as well as policy-makers in the international arena. The latter is possible because all team members are part of the Critical Global Poverty Studies network (CGPS) that forms the intellectual backdrop and institutional platform for this research. In this collaboration, researchers will investigate how middle class actors understand and respond to poverty across the Americas as new forms of economic globalization are transforming the economic position, identities and poverty politics of middle class groups. The team will meet with Dr. Atilio Boron, Professor of Political Theory, Dr. Susana Murillo, Professor of Social Sciences, and Dr. Alberto Cimadamore, Professor of Political Science, all from the University of Buenos Aires. The investigators plan to submit research proposals to the National Science Foundation, Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and the Norwegian Research Council. The project contributes to the development of educational and research capacity in Argentina and the U.S. through its involvement of PhD students in both countries. The U.S. graduate students are women from diverse economic backgrounds who will have an invaluable educational opportunity, being involved in the creation of substantive research and learning how to engage in international collaboration.