Heritage Voices · The Archaeology Podcast Network

Encore - Anthropology of the US-Mexico Border - Ep 32

·53 min·3 clips

Heritage Voices episode 32 opens with Jessica Uquinto setting a careful frame for a conversation about the anthropology of the US-Mexico border. She acknowledges the lands she is recording on before introducing Jason DeLeon. DeLeon is presented as a professor of anthropology and Chicana-Chicano studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, with a lab in the Kotzen Institute of Archaeology. He is also the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, Inc. His book, The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail, is part of the background for the discussion, along with his other academic and organizational roles. The conversation centers on what it means to study migration ethically. DeLeon says that if ethics are not a constant concern, ethnography is not being done well. He describes working with communities that are vulnerable and easy to exploit. For him, the main task is to represent people as they want to be seen. He talks about checking in with communities about what he is writing and what he hopes to understand. The episode draws a clear line between that long-term commitment and the work of journalists who cover immigration issues. DeLeon says he tries to build relationships that last. He also speaks about the practical choices that shape research, including photography, disclosure, and what should remain private. Those choices are not simple rules. They are part of an ongoing struggle. He jokes that worrying about those questions is one way he knows he is taking the work seriously. A major theme is voice. DeLeon explains that his book gives people room to tell their own stories in their own words. He sees himself less as an owner of the material than as a translator and moderator. The conversation leaves room for that humility to sit beside the seriousness of the topic. By the end, ethics, representation, and human dignity feel inseparable from the study of borderlands.

As heard by us

A reflective conversation about border anthropology that keeps ethics, representation, and human consequence in view.

Heritage Voices episode 32 pairs Jessica Uquinto with Jason DeLeon on the anthropology of the US-Mexico border. The conversation keeps coming back to ethics in ethnographic work: how to represent vulnerable communities, what should stay private, and how long-term relationships…

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Why you'd press play

For a careful look at border anthropology, ethics, and the human stakes behind migration.

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