"Dr. Jason De León's book will haunt you for years after you put it down, and will light a fire in your gut. His exploration of the impact of American immigration policy continues to remain as relevant and timely as ever. An academic work as captivating as any novel, The Land of Open Graves is a roaring condemnation of inhumane American border policy.
This book details the brutality and human cost of 'prevention through deterrance.' This policy implemented at the Mexican-American border turns the extreme environment into a killing field. De León humanizes and vividly—often gruseomely—illustrates the crisis at the border through ethnography, linguistics, forensic archaeology, socio-political analysis, and most importantly, the voices of the affected undocumented migrants themselves."
Publisher University of California Press
Publication Date 2015-10-23
Section Academic New Arrivals / Anthropology / Archaeology / All Staff Suggestions / Nonfiction Suggestions / Maddie C.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780520282759
In his gripping and provocative debut, anthropologist Jason De León sheds light on one of the most pressing political issues of our time—the human consequences of US immigration 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, this policy has failed to deter border crossers while successfully turning the rugged terrain of southern Arizona into a killing field.
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.
