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The Land of Open Graves
Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail
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Jason De Leon
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2015
About this book
"[A]n anthropologist's urgent, vividly drawn inquiry into the havoc wreaked on human life by America's immigration policy." ― The New York Times
In this gripping and provocative "ethnography of death," National Book Award winner and MacArthur "Genius" Fellow Jason De León sheds light on one of the most pressing political issues of our time—the human consequences of US immigration and border policy.
The Land of Open Graves reveals the suffering and deaths that occur daily in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona as thousands of undocumented migrants attempt to cross the border from Mexico into the United States.
Drawing on the four major fields of anthropology, De León uses an innovative combination of ethnography, archaeology, linguistics, and forensic science to produce a scathing critique of “Prevention through Deterrence,” the federal border enforcement policy that encourages migrants to cross in areas characterized by extreme environmental conditions and high risk of death. For two decades, systematic violence has failed to deter border crossers while successfully turning the rugged terrain of southern Arizona into a killing field. Featuring stark photography by Michael Wells, this book examines the weaponization of natural terrain as a border wall: first-person stories from survivors underscore this fundamental threat to human rights, and the very lives, of non-citizens as they are subjected to the most insidious and intangible form of American policing as institutional violence.
In harrowing detail, De León chronicles the journeys of people who have made dozens of attempts to cross the border and uncovers the stories of the objects and bodies left behind in the desert.
The Land of Open Graves will spark debate and controversy.
In this gripping and provocative "ethnography of death," National Book Award winner and MacArthur "Genius" Fellow Jason De León sheds light on one of the most pressing political issues of our time—the human consequences of US immigration and border policy.
The Land of Open Graves reveals the suffering and deaths that occur daily in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona as thousands of undocumented migrants attempt to cross the border from Mexico into the United States.
Drawing on the four major fields of anthropology, De León uses an innovative combination of ethnography, archaeology, linguistics, and forensic science to produce a scathing critique of “Prevention through Deterrence,” the federal border enforcement policy that encourages migrants to cross in areas characterized by extreme environmental conditions and high risk of death. For two decades, systematic violence has failed to deter border crossers while successfully turning the rugged terrain of southern Arizona into a killing field. Featuring stark photography by Michael Wells, this book examines the weaponization of natural terrain as a border wall: first-person stories from survivors underscore this fundamental threat to human rights, and the very lives, of non-citizens as they are subjected to the most insidious and intangible form of American policing as institutional violence.
In harrowing detail, De León chronicles the journeys of people who have made dozens of attempts to cross the border and uncovers the stories of the objects and bodies left behind in the desert.
The Land of Open Graves will spark debate and controversy.
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Jason De Leon
Jason De León is Professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archeology at UCLA. He is a 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and the Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project, which organizes the global participatory exhibition Hostile Terrain 94. He is the author of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Topics
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i |
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xv |
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Part one. This Hard Land
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21 |
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38 |
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62 |
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Part two. El Camino
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87 |
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107 |
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145 |
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167 |
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Part three. Perilous Terrain
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203 |
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220 |
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238 |
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265 |
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280 |
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289 |
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297 |
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300 |
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301 |
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325 |
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349 |
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
April 15, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780520958685
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
384
eBook ISBN:
9780520958685
Keywords for this book
political activism; immigration policy; us politics; ethnographer; anthropologist; immigrant studies; us immigration policy; mexico-united states border; sonoran desert of arizona; risk of death; what its like to cross the border; coyotes; environmental extremes; dangers of border crossing; sociologist; undocumented migrants; anthropology; institutional violence; border crossing; human rights; desert as a killing machine
