Anthropology, Department of
Nebraska Anthropologist
Date of this Version
2025
Document Type
Review
Citation
Nebraska Anthropologist (2025)
Anthropology Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Accessibility-checked PDF
Abstract
Jason De León’s The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trailis (2015), a raw and unwavering multidisciplinary exploration of the human cost of United States border policies, and this review reflects on his ability to meld ethnography, archaeology, forensic science, and narrative. De León exposes the brutal realities of the Sonoran Desert, where the U.S. policy of Prevention Through Deterrence (PTD) turns the landscape itself into a weapon. PTD directs illegal immigration away from more populated areas and instead towards the harsh deserts found occupying the border. De León holds a commitment to honoring the lives and dignity of migrants and critiquing the systemic necroviolence, including animal scavenging and loss of identity, that follows them in life and death. De León’s work insists that justice begins with listening to the voices of migrants, their families, and the landscapes that carry their stories. He does not seek to offer neat solutions but instead invites readers to witness suffering without looking away and to reimagine how we might engage with migrant death as both a humanitarian crisis and a call to action.
Comments
Copyright 2025, Lillie Turpin. Used by permission