"Stepping Over the Line": Hyper-Masculinity, Institutionalized Violence, and the Archaeology of the U.S. Border Patrol

Summary

The U.S. Border Patrol has come under heavy scrutiny following the deaths of 42 civilians since 2005, numerous reports of migrants being physically and sexually assaulted while in custody, and the surfacing of videos showing aggressive encounters between agents and U.S. citizens. Because a great deal of boundary enforcement happens in remote parts of the desert, documenting how agents do their job is difficult. In this paper, we highlight data from numerous interviews with agents, migrant narratives regarding their apprehension experiences, years of encounters with agents at checkpoints and in the desert, and two seasons of archaeological surveys focused on the material record of boundary enforcement.  Drawing on these data, we argue that Border Patrol’s hyper-masculine culture coupled with limited accountability sets the stage for violent encounters with migrants and the general public alike and that the archaeological record of border enforcement offers new insight into this troubling phenomenon.   

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Crossing Borders and Erasing Boundaries: An Overview of the First Five Years of the Undocumented Migration Project   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 344