RAPID: Migrant Material Cultural Project: An Ethnographic and Ethnoarchaeological Analysis of Undocumented Migration in Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。Jason De Leon（华盛顿大学）将研究最近美国边境巡逻队安全措施的变化、进入亚利桑那州南部的无证件移民流的变化以及与沙漠移民有关的独特物质和经济制度之间的关系。感兴趣的人群包括准备穿越沙漠进入美国的移民，墨西哥阿特尔镇专门提供移民用品的小贩，以及在亚利桑那州铁木森林国家纪念碑土地上临时露营的无证移民。本研究解决了三组主要问题：1)最近埃尔帕索地区边境安全的增加如何影响无证移民流入祭坛，墨西哥和亚利桑那州南部？2)目前正在穿越索诺兰沙漠并使用铁木森林国家纪念地的移民的人口特征（如年龄、性别、国籍）是什么？3)最近美国边境政策的变化对墨西哥的当地经济有何影响？这项探索性研究将民族志、考古学和民族考古学的方法和理论独特地结合起来，以了解无证移民的多个组成部分。这包括检查美国边境巡逻队的变化对移民流的直接影响，以及研究在墨西哥北部出现的专门经济系统，以应对越来越多的试图穿越沙漠的移民。此外，这个项目是第一个详细分析美国西南部临时移民营地的项目。这项研究不仅是研究移民的一种创新方法，它还将为未被充分研究的无证移民亚群（即妇女、儿童和老年人）提供新的人口和经济数据。民族志、考古、经济和人口研究的结合将极大地促进移民研究领域的发展，并有助于理解边境政策变化的相互关联的影响。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Jason De Leon (University of Washington) will undertake research on the relationship between shifts in recent United States Border Patrol security measures, changes in undocumented migration streams into southern Arizona, and the unique material goods and economic systems associated with desert migration. Populations of interest are migrants preparing to cross into the United States through the desert, vendors in the town of Altar, Mexico, who specialize in migrant provisions, and undocumented migrants who use temporary campsites on Ironwood Forest National Monument lands in Arizona. This study addresses three primary sets of questions: 1) How have recent increases in border security in the El Paso region impacted the flow of undocumented migrants into Altar, Mexico, and southern Arizona? 2) What are the demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, nationality) of migrants who are currently crossing the Sonoran Desert and using lay-up sites in Ironwood Forest National Monument? 3) How has the local economy of Altar, Mexico, been impacted by recent changes in U.S. Border policies?This exploratory research applies a unique combination of ethnographic, archaeological, and ethnoarchaeological methods and theories to understand multiple components of undocumented migration. This includes examining the immediate impacts that changes in U.S. Border Patrol have on migration streams, as well as studying the specialized economic systems that have arisen in northern Mexico to deal with the increasing number of migrants attempting desert crossings. Additionally, this project is the first detailed analysis of the temporary migrant campsites that dot the American southwest. This research is not only an innovative approach to studying migration, it will also provide new demographic and economic data on understudied sub-populations of undocumented migrants (i.e., women, children, and the elderly). This combination of ethnographic, archaeological, economic, and demographic research will greatly contribute to the growing field of migration studies and to understanding the interlinked effects of border policy changes.