TAMISHA D. NAVARRO, then a student at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, received funding in May 2007 to aid research on ''Culture' vs. 'Progress': Economic Development in the United States Virgin Islands,' supervised by Dr. Charles Piot. In the fall of 2008, the financial sector of the US economy was in trouble. As a result of the failure of several major investment banks, a possible rescue package of Wall Street by the federal government became a topic of much discussion. In the U.S. Virgin Islands -- and particularly on the island of St.

DR. MARK A. MOBERG, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, received funding in April 2009 to aid research on 'Society without the State: Neoliberalism and Fair Trade Organizations in Dominica.' This project set out to determine whether social premiums earned by Fair Trade farmers on Dominica could offset cuts in social services arising from IMF-sponsored structural adjustment. Social premiums are generated by the sale of Fair Trade commodities, and are returned to rural communities in the form of locally designed development projects.

PIERRE HONG MINN, then a student at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, received funding in October 2007 to aid research on 'An Investigation of International Medical Aid in Haiti,' supervised by Dr. Allan Young. This research examined the social dimensions of international medical aid in northern Haiti, where a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations from several countries carry out interventions. These include direct clinical care, infrastructure development, training for medical professionals and other forms of aid.

DR. KEITH E. McNEAL, University of California - San Diego, La Jolla, California was awarded a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship in October 2008 to aid research and writing on 'Ecstasy in Exile: Spirits and Transculturation in the Southern Caribbean.' Ecstasy in Exile is a comparative historical ethnography of the convergent globalization and colonial transculturation of African and Hindu traditions of trance performance and spirit mediumship in the southern Caribbean, as well as their divergent political fates in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's era of postcolonial multiculturalism.

JAMIE MATERA, then a student at University of California, Santa Barbara, California, received funding in May 2007 to aid research on 'Determining the Role of Social Networks in Marine Conservation: A Case Study of Providencia, Colombia,' supervised by Dr. Shankar Aswani. This research study analyzes the application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in fisheries management in the island of Providencia, Colombia. The study seeks to determine the efficacy of using existing social networks within artisanal fishing communities to increase representation and participation in marine conservation.

PHILIPPE-RICHARD MARIUS, then a student at City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, New York, received funding in May 2010 to aid research on 'Trading in Race: Nationalist Ideologies, Elites and Political Economy in Haiti,' supervised by Dr. Donald K. Robotham. This project investigates the social economy of Haiti's elites. It proceeds principally through an ethnography in the privileged classes of Port-au-Prince (the capital city), interviews, and study of public and private histories.

AMINATA MARAESA, then a student at New York University, received funding in September 2005 to aid ethnographic research on the role of traditional birth attendants in the context of international development discourse and local Belizean public health initiatives, under the supervision of Dr. Rayna Rapp. Research was conducted in southern Belize from January through October 2006. Through an analysis of an NGO-initiated midwifery training project, the grantee examined globalized healthcare initiatives experienced at the local level.

SIMONE ALICIA MANGAL, then a student at University College London, London, United Kingdom, received a grant in October 2008, to aid research on 'Aluminium: The Social and Environmental Value of Commodities,' supervised by Dr. Daniel Miller. Despite a conspicuous global preoccupation with markets and socio-environmental problems, commodity value studies dwell on production and circulation values and not socio-environmental values.

Preliminary Abstract: Development aid advocates a normative ethos of professionalism that foregrounds equality between providers and recipients while discouraging personal relationships that could lead to accusations of corruption, nepotism and dependency. These personal relationships are understood to undermine the inculcation of values such as transparency and accountability that are encouraged by development aid providers.

CHELSEY L. KIVLAND, then a student at University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, received funding in April 2008 to aid research on 'Of Bands and Soldiers: Performance, Sovereignty, and Violence in Haiti,' supervised by Dr. Stephan Palmie. This ethnography examines the expressive political action of young men involved in both carnival street bands and social service organizations in a slum of Port-au-Prince, in order to show how they imagine and enact a novel model of statehood based on the Haitian ideal of respè, or respect.