The network consists of research teams in France, Russia, and Thailand/Yunnan (with an associated team in China), which themselves are made up of interlinked local working groups. The primary purpose of this infrastructure is to organize research—to invite participation of scholars whose ongoing or planned work concerns the topic of "Identifications" and to facilitate communication among them. Meetings were held in 2001 in Moscow, Russia, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Berkeley, California, and Fort de France, Martinique to plan research agenda. A similar set of meetings are set for 2002 to reviewing findings and to prepare contributions for a summative conference at Yale University in 2003.

Network activity (especially through the concluding conference) will provide an opportunity for participant observation and comment on the potential utility of this model of modular, cross-area research for future work. The promise of this project lies not only in gaining substantive knowledge concerning the cultural and historical dynamics of group identity, but also in the development of new trans-regional research methods.

ACLS organizes the network aspects of this project: communication among teams, dissemination of results through regional workshops and the final conference, and postings on the ACLS website.


Overall Goals of the Collaborative Research Network on "Identifications"

The goals of this project are of two distinct kinds—substantive results of research and development of new mechanisms for international, interdisciplinary, collegially organized collaborative research. In particular, we plan:

• To establish new conceptual categories for the field of identity studies. Since landmark work such as Benedict Anderson's and Hobsbawm/Ranger's in the 1980s, the field has fragmented, pulled apart by the competing claims of psychoanalytic and literary discourses. It has become increasingly removed from the real world experiences of sovereign states and subject populations.
• To develop a new model of modular, interactive structure for research planning, fieldwork, and dissemination.
• To strengthen the capacity of local institutions and informal research communities for sustained cooperation with colleagues in other parts of the world.