PowerPoint Slides (in Swedish and English): de-leon-seminar-1-swe-eng-ht23.pptx

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.

Please read the following sections of the book:

Introduction (pp. 10-14), Chapter 3 (pp. 62–66), Chapter 4, Chapter 7

In this seminar, we will look at how the author develops his argument and methods to collect data.

Group activity 1 (30 min):

You will be asked to join 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? Or refugees from Ukraine in 2022?
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 (15 min):

We will then discuss your summaries and reflections together. Remember to help each other during your discussion.

Summarize your discussion and share it with the rest of us.

Group activity 2 (30 min):

You will be asked to join 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 and archaeology, 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 (15 min):

We will then discuss your summaries and reflections together. Remember to help each other during your discussion.

Summarize your discussion and share it with the rest of us.