Language, identity and preferences: the case of rural-urban migration in Uganda.

The desire to understand the determinants of human behaviour is the goal of several
disciplines. Research into economic preferences, such as cooperation, reciprocity and trust,
has enhanced our understanding of what drives individuals to make certain choices. The
utility an individual derives from cooperating is not solely contingent on factors like wealth
or education, but also their cultural identity and the social pressures they face. Growing
evidence suggests that preferences, at least in part, may be reliant on contextual or
environmental factors, as well as the actions of others. I intend to use rural to urban
migration, a key trend in the developing world, as lens through which the interaction
between context, identity and preferences can be explored.

"Language is the repository of the history of a people. It is their identity." Crystal (1997, p.
20).

Recent projects have identified significant international heterogeneity in preferences,
begging the question what determines these differences. Language has emerged as an
important factor, with the most recent research making use of lab-in-the-field experiments
with bilinguals. While studies have found language can affect behaviour, the underlying
mechanism remains unexplored. Social and cultural factors, such as norms or expectations,
may be driving these differences. Equally, language may act to 'prime' individuals, making an
identity category more salient, thereby activating different sets of internalised preferences.
Firstly, I seek to replicate existing findings concerning cooperative behaviour by means of a
pre-registered study. Prior research has found a significant language effect, leading to a 30%
difference in cooperation levels. As part of this, I will investigate the underlying mechanism,
exploring norms, expectations and internalised preferences, both jointly and individually.
Secondly, I intend to explore identity in the context of rural-urban migration in Sub-Saharan
Africa. For the first time in history, the majority of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa now
reside in urban areas. A key driver of increased urbanisation has been rural to urban
migration. Unlike international migration, national migrants maintain 'links' with their
communities of origin, presenting a unique opportunity to explore the context-dependency of
preferences. Here an individual may develop and maintain multiple identities, thereby
exhibiting different behavioural choices, simply because of context ('place'). I will explore
whether norms and expectations differ by place and thereby understand the mechanism
behind why contextual factors matter.

Lastly, again in the setting of rural-urban migration, if norms and expectations differ by
place, I will investigate whether increased time within a culture (exposure) constitutes
'learning' about norms and expectations. Further, I will explore whether reduced exposure to
a community of origin manifests as 'unlearning', or whether migrants simply maintain dual
identities and understanding. This is has not been explored by the literature to date.
I am a second year part-time PhD student, required to complete my PhD by September 2025.
Due to time limits placed on funding from CBESS at UEA, I have already completed field work
and have data to support at least two high quality publications. A draft of the first of these
papers was submitted and accepted for the CSAE 2020 conference. I am applying to SeNSS at
this point to enable me to spend significantly more time producing publications and
potentially conducting more field work. My long-term goal is to enter academia on a full-time
basis. Further, part-time study restricts my ability to attend conferences and become a more
active member of the research community.