Sociology and Anthropology Department

"The Land of Open Graves: Necroviolence and the Politics of Migrant Death in the Arizona Desert". What happens to bodies of migrants who die in the desert?   Jason De León, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Anthropology from the University of Michigan, will discuss fatal, undocumented migrant treks through difficult desert terrain as a result of border enforcement tactics.  Based on the concept of taphonomy (post-mortem processes that impact biological remains), he will argue that the way that bodies decompose in the desert is a form of hidden…