PowerPoint Slides (in Swedish and English): de-leon-seminar-1-swe-eng-h22-1.pptx

This seminar will take place on the Zoom channel of the course: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/67715711195?pwd=QVYyQzFRTVY3dVJqZGJ1ZVpnTUF6UT09

Note: These lectures will take place in English. However, students can write their assignments in Swedish. Those who are interested in writing in English are encouraged to do so.

In this activity, students will be asked to discuss the broader social and political context in which this book is based. In particular, we will look at how this monograph develops its argument and what methods the author used to collect data.

Group activity 1 (30 min):

You will be asked to enter the Zoom room assigned to your activity groups. Reflect on the following questions:

Before and after the 2016 US Presidential election, “illegal” migration was a controversial topic in the US, as well as elsewhere. Most public discussions focused on Donald Trump’s racist comments about Mexicans or on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) separated children from parents and put them in cages.

What do you think The Land of Open Graves adds to that discussion? How can we read this monograph and think about other migration contexts, e.g., Syrian refugees in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015?
What is the author’s main “argument”? How do they develop this argument throughout the text?
What do you think the book is “about”? How does the author situate this text within a particular social and political context? How is that information conveyed to the reader?

Discussion (20 min):

We will then discuss your summaries and reflections together in the main Zoom room/meeting. Remember to help each other during your discussion.

Summarize your discussion and post it as a comment (around 200-250 words) in the Discussion page in Canvas by the end of the day. Remember to mention your group in your post.

Group activity 2 (30 min):

You will be asked to enter the Zoom room assigned to your activity groups. Reflect on the following questions:

Discuss and comment on the methods that the author used. Photographs play a very important role in this text. In fact, Michael Wells is as much an author of the book as De León is. Some of the author’s participants also used photographs to document their cross-border journey.

Where and how did the author use “ethnography” as a method?
How did other methods, like forensic research, contribute to the author’s ethnography?
What do you think about the author’s discussion about the ethics of participant observation, especially his decision to not follow migrants on cross-border journeys?
What do you think the photographs add to the narrative and themes of the book? How would the book feel if there were no photographs in it?

Discussion (20 min):

We will then discuss your summaries and reflections together in the main Zoom room/meeting. Remember to help each other during your discussion.

Summarize your discussion and post it as a comment (around 200-250 words) in the Discussion page in Canvas by the end of the day. Remember to mention your group in your post.