The Architecture of Race.

This proposal seeks funding for a two-year pilot study to establish methods for exploring trends in human conceptions of race and ethnicity. After (or during) year one of the studies the PI intends to apply for outside funding (NSF, NIH and NEH). The main research targets indigenous Tzotzil Maya, Ladinos (of mixed descent) and Mestizos (individuals of Spanish descent) in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The PI is highly familiar with the area (15+ years of research experience, the PI is fluent in both Spanish and Tzotzil Maya). Additional data will be collected among Q’eqchi’ Maya in Guatemala (with the help of a graduate student, who is fluent in Q’eqchi’) and in the Nashville area. These two sites serve mainly as control groups (for a specific set of experiments). In addition, the Nashville site will function as a training site for students. Data will be both highly relevant for the specific ethnographic setting, and will inform our normative theories of the construction and application of racial categories, providing important (and sorely missing) cross-cultural data to better understand an important phenomenon. Interethnic relations and perceptions will be investigated with respect to basic cognitive processes (domain specific versus domain general processes), expanding our knowledge with respect to the boundaries (and reality) of proposed modules of the mind. The research targets the interplay of cognitive and social processes (combining insights from the cognitive sciences and the humanities) in developing unique regional characteristics of otherwise universal racial categories. As such the proposal forges a new and sorely missing link between the social sciences and the humanities with respect to the study of race and ethnicity (cite Marchery & Faucher, n.d.). The research will be conducted both among adults and children employing Vanderbilt Graduate and Undergraduate students (Anthropology and Psychology) in all aspects of the investigation (field research and data processing), providing therefore an ideal student training.