[URBANTH-L]Call for Papers--Latinos in the Military & Border Enforcement

Luis F.B. Plascencia Luis.Plascencia at asu.edu
Wed Mar 18 15:18:43 EDT 2009


American Anthropological Association
2009 Annual Meeting

Co-Organizers: Luis F.B. Plascencia (Arizona State Univ.) and Gina M. Pérez (Oberlin)
Discussant: Alisse Waterston (CUNY)

Call for Papers

Latinas/os Killing, Dying, and Apprehending for the United States:
Gender, Nativity, Race/Ethnicity, and Citizenship within the U.S. Military and Border Control Apparatus

Much of the public debate on current U.S. military actions and Mexico-United States boundary enforcement has taken place within a framework that sets aside the significant social markers of gender, race/ethnicity, or nativity of the personnel. While needed attention has been given to important questions such as ethical issues related to the participation of anthropologists in the Human Terrain System, cost in human life, financial costs, problems in veteran health care, limited attention has been placed on the presence of Latinas/os, both non-citizens and citizens, within the military or within Border Patrol or ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) units. The significant and growing presence of Latinas/os in the military, Border Patrol (part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP), and ICE is a topic that allows the empirical and theoretical analysis of the articulation of key social markers and the broader issues of nationalism, patriotism, and the State. Moreover, demographic projections of the growth of the Latino community means that Latinos will hold an increasing proportion of those performing military work, a fact that military planners have been discussing for some time, as well as border and migration actions to “protect” the U.S. “homeland.” By the end of 2008, Latinos represented 51 per cent of the 18,049 agents guarding U.S. land borders—an unprecedented representation within all federal agencies. The current economic crisis and President Obama’s proposal for an additional 2,000 Border Patrol agents will likely result in Latinos soon surpassing a 10,000 level. 

In the proposed panel we want to highlight some of the current research being carried out on Latinas/os in the military, in the U.S. Border Patrol or in ICE.

Pérez has been researching the participation of Latina/os in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), and will present a paper on some of the issues that she is examining.

Plascencia is particularly interested in the historical and contemporary participation of non-citizens, including informally authorized migrants (i.e., “undocumented” migrants), in military work. His paper will address the granting of citizenship to non-citizens in the military.

If you are interested in participating in this panel, please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words to the co-organizers by March 27, 2009.

You can send your abstract to either of the co-organizers:
Luis F.B. Plascencia, luis.plascencia at asu.edu
Gina M. Pérez, gina.perez at oberlin.edu




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