"It Doesn’t Matter if You’re a Citizen": Emic Perspectives on Border Patrol and Security from a Southern Arizona Border Town
Author(s): Murphy A Van Sparrentak; Chloe Bergsma-Safar
Year: 2015
Summary
Arivaca, Arizona is one of many small unincorporated communities along the US/Mexican border that have recently been thrust into the media spotlight in the wake of discussions of immigration reform. The dominant media narrative coming out of these towns is typically characterized by anti-immigrant sentiment and calls for more Border Patrol presence. Drawing on ethnographic work in Arivaca and archaeological work focused on Border Patrol activities, I offer a counter narrative to the one portrayed by the media and argue that race, class and personal experiences with migrants and drug smuggling make it difficult to reduce local public opinion to one storyline. I also argue that Arivaca is an exceptional political space where the landscape has become heavily militarized and where local citizens routinely have their civil rights violated by federal law enforcement.
Cite this Record
"It Doesn’t Matter if You’re a Citizen": Emic Perspectives on Border Patrol and Security from a Southern Arizona Border Town. Murphy A Van Sparrentak, Chloe Bergsma-Safar. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 433801)
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Keywords
General
Arizona
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Border
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Immigration
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Contemporary
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 221