The Land of Open Graves

Posted on 11 December 2017 by Jason De León

In his gripping and provocative debut, anthropologist Jason De Le n 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 Le n 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 Le n 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. Free Download Books The Land of Open Graves author Jason De León – kino-fada.fr It s hard to formulate a coherent response to this book because it s such a hodgepodge of ideas and styles a true interdisciplinary effort In the end, however, it feltlike a memoir than anything else a memoir of an academic who is on the way to becoming an activist Jason De Le n does a great job telling the dramatic and emotionally draining stories of migrants, and that s really the strength of the book The photographs become essential as these stories grow deeper andresonant It s hard to formulate a coherent response to this book because it s such a hodgepodge of ideas and styles a true interdisciplinary effort In the end, however, it feltlike a memoir than anything else a memoir of an academic who is on the way to becoming an activist Jason De Le n does a great job telling the dramatic and emotionally draining stories of migrants, and that s really the strength of the book The photographs become essential as these stories grow deeper andresonant Academic language is used sparingly, but well, to give a patina of objectivity to the whole endeavor as well as to provide the kind of clarity that can only come from distance.The book begins with a forceful critique of the policy known as Prevention Through Deterrence PTD see However, this is not a book about how policy is made or unmade It s a book about individual people and their journeys north to the United States As a consequence, th...If you re looking for a book that isn t heavy in Anthropological jargon but are interested in what happens between the borders of Mexico and American then read this book De Leon writes such a heart breaking tail of what is happening and the policies America has enacted to create this violent aren...It s an eye opening and shocking reading I bursted out tears from time to time when reading this book The book states some often ignored realities 1 People living in extreme poverty will do everything to make a living, even it will mean for them to risk their life to cross the desert 2 The inequality in world economy makes the USattractive 3 Deterrence by death does not stop the undocumented immigrants.They are very valuable points and worth to be reminded when we view the topic of It s an eye opening and shocking reading I bursted out tears from time to time when reading this book The book states some often ignored realities 1 People living in extreme poverty will do everything to make a living, even it will mean for them to risk their life to cross the desert 2 The inequality in world economy makes the USattractive 3 Deterrence by death does not stop the undocumented immigrants.They are very valuable points and worth to be reminded when we view the topic of undocumented immigrants.Also, I saw a lot of cruelty inside the government system from this book I wish the authors could explore , if anyone could give good suggestions on this issue, it s people like the authors of this book and their research group who take huge time trying to understand and analysis the current situation.I wish I could seediscussion on 1 How does the government agencies feel about the current po...This is one of the best ethnographies I ve ever read De L on spends 5 years tracking the effects of the Prevention Through Deterrence policy enacted in the mid 90s, arguing that the most brutal and deliberate weapon in the war against illegal immigration is a nonhuman agent the desert His research takes him from Ecuador, to witness the psychological and emotional effects of undocumented immigration and loss, to la linea in Sonora, Mexico Nogales, Arizona, where migrants find themselves This is one of the best ethnographies I ve ever read De L on spends 5 years tracking the effects of the Prevention Through Deterrence policy enacted in the mid 90s, arguing that the most brutal and deliberate weapon in the war against illegal immigration is a nonhuman agent the desert His research takes him from Ecuador, to witness the psychological and emotional effects of undocumented immigration and loss, to la linea in Sonora, Mexico Nogales, Arizona, where migrants find themselv...The terrible things that this mass of migrating people experience en route are neither random nor senseless, but rather part of a strategic federal plan that has rarely been publicly illuminated ad exposed for what it is a killing machine that simultaneously uses and hides behind the viciousness of the Sonoran Desert The Border Patrol disguises the impact of its current policy by mobilizing a combination of sterilized discourse, redirected by blame, and natural environmental processes that The terrible things that this mass of migrating people experience en route are neither random nor senseless, but rather part of a strategic federal plan that has rarely been publicly illuminated ad exposed for what it is a killing machine that simultaneously uses and hides behind the viciousness of the Sonoran Desert The Border Patrol disguises the impact of its current policy by mobilizing a combination of sterilized discourse, redirected by blame, and natural environmental processes that erase evidence of what happens in the most remote parts of southern Arizona The goal is to render invisible the innumerable consequences this sociopolitical pheno...Captive book with great insight on the migration journey However, I can t get over the fact that the author killed 5 pigs for his research which really didn t add much to his argument and described in detail the killings The part about the pigs is absolutely gross and unnecessary so I ta...Revolutionary anthropologyI was so impacted by The Devil s Highway A True Story by Urrea years ago that this may have to be read.Eye opening and sad This book exposes a struggle that I hadn t known about very tragic I would have given itstars as it s well written, but it was just too depressing.Stunning and heartbreaking.

English
11 December 2017

Jason De León