HOSTILE Terrain 94 & the UMP in the NEWS
2023
“Installation four years in the making represents casualties at US-Mexico border,” The Review, November 14th, 2023
“University to host pop-up art exhibit by Undocumented Migration Project: ‘Hostile Terrain 94,’” The Mesquite, October 30th, 2023
“A Show About Migration Is a Hall of Memories,” Hyperallergic, May 1, 2023.
“‘Hostile Terrain’ exhibit depicts decades of migrant deaths along California border,” Border Report, April 20th, 2023
“‘If we didn’t have luck, we would be a tag,’” The Daily Evergreen, February 8th, 2023
“WSU Schnitzer Museum begins ‘Hostile Terrain 94’ exhibit Jan. 17,” WSU Insider, January 10th, 2023
2022
“Toe-tag art honors over 4,000 migrants who died crossing border into Arizona,” KGUN News Tucson, November 18th, 2022
“U.S.-Mexico border holds tragic immigrant stories. A new L.A. exhibition lets them speak,” Los Angeles Times, November 3rd, 2022
“Hostile Terrain art exhibition, November 1-4. Dia de los Muertos: Remembering the over 3,000 immigrant lives lost at the U.S. border since the 1990s,” Illinois State University, October 24th, 2022.
“Exhibition features stories of missing and dead migrants,” Spectrum News 1, September 18th, 2022
2021
“Documenting the undocumented,” Towson University, November 30th, 2021
“The inviting nature of ‘Hostile Terrain 94,’ a new exhibit about migrant deaths,” The San Diego Tribune, November 14th, 2021
“Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the Department of Anthropology Present "Hostile Terrain 94" Sept. 24 - Dec. 30,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas, September 15th, 2021.
“‘Hostile Terrain 94’ participatory art installation invites public to engage with humanitarian issues at U.S.-Mexico border,” Vanderbilt University, September 8th, 2021
“Hostile Terrain in a Pandemic,” University of Alberta, March 11th, 2021
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Front page of The Daily Reflector, March 7th, 2021
“The machine of death continues to roll on,” Boulder Weekly, February 25th, 2021
“Hinter jedem Leichenzettel ein Mensch,” müensterschezeitung.de, January 11th, 2021
“Hostile Terrain 94 Münster,” Münster University, January 6th, 2021
2020
“Why I wrote 500 toe tags during a pandemic in Kansas,” Kansas Reflector, August 6th, 2020
“Beyond Borders: MacArthur Fellows in Conversation with Jason De Leon and Steven Feld,” SAR School for Advanced Research, July 22nd, 2020
“Beyond Borders: Hostile Terrain 94 Virtual Exhibition Opening,” SAR School for Advanced Research, July 17th, 2020
“Hostile Terrain 94: Art as a Means for Political Change,” impactmania, April 6th, 2020
“Date Visualization As an Act of Witnessing,” Nightingale — Medium, March 4th, 2020
2019
"Interview with Dr. Jason De Leon,” PhillyCam, October 8th, 2019
“Toe-Tag Art Honors Migrants Who Died Trying to Come to US,” Spectrum News 1, October 2nd, 2019
“Penn Museum hosts pop-up exhibit to commemorate those who died at U.S.-Mexico border,” The Daily Pennsylvanian, September 25th, 2019
“Project Exploring Migrant Deaths in US Aims to Go Global,” Associated Press (story picked up by over 200 media
outlets including the Washington Post and LA Times), March 29th, 2019“Fatal U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Featured in Michigan Toe-Tag Exhibit,” United Press International, March 29th. 2019
“Shocking Reality of Border Deaths on Display in New Art Project,” Graham Media Group, April 2nd, 2019
“On-campus Exhibit Draws Attention to the Lives Lost Across U.S. and Mexico Border,” The Michigan Daily, March 28th, 2019
“MI’s Guardianship System; Measles Outbreak; Exhibit on “Open Graves” At US Border,” Stateside, Michigan Radio 91.7, National Public Radio, March 26th, 2019
“UM Exhibit to Showcase Human Toll of U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings,” The Detroit News, March 22nd, 2019
“Al Rescate de los Inmigrantes Muertos de Camino al País,” Agencia EFE (LA Times), March 19th, 2019
Noticias Telemundo Mediodía, 15 de abril de 2019
SELECTION OF GENERAL POPULAR MEDIA
2019
“Expert Says Border Fight Distracts From Real Issue: Why Migrants Come Here”, GLT’s Sound Ideas, NPR Illinois State Radio 89.1 FM, February 21st, 2019
“Smart Talk Road Trip to Phillips Museum at Franklin & Marshall College”, WITF 89.5 FM, January 25th, 2019
“(W)Rap on: Immigration”: a Conversation between Jason De León and Maria Hinojosa, (W)Rap On series at AnthroPod, January 3, 2019
2018
“See Migration, its ‘Traces, Tracks and Pathways,’ at MECA”, Press Herald, December 9th, 2018
“In Maine, Looking at Art and Immigration,” Boston Globe, November 14th, 2018
“What They Leave Behind: Photography and Artifacts from the Border Illuminate the Realities of Migrant Life,” The Portland Phoenix, November 8th, 2018
“Vultures, Forensics, & Border Policy: Why Migrant Bodies Disappear,” Ask a Mortician podcast, September 28th, 2018
“What It’s Like to Identify the Borderlands’ Dead.” High Country News, August 17th, 2018
“Study Points to Undercount of Migrant Deaths on US-Mexico Border,” The Latin American Herald Tribune, July, 2018
“Making an Impact: Professor Jason De León Brings the Life-And-Death Stories of Migrants to the Public,” Public Engagement & Impact, University of Michigan, July 2018
“What Anthropologists Can Tell You About the US Border Immigration Crisis,” The Guardian, July 19th, 2018
“Deadly Trek: Immigrants Face Death in Hostile South Texas Brushlands,” Houston Chronicle, July 8th, 2018
“So, Dead Pigs Anger Us, But Not The Migrants They Represent?,” Arizona Central, July 5th, 2018
“What Dead Pigs Can Teach Us About Missing Bodies in the Arizona Desert,” Arizona Central, July 4th, 2018
“US Immigration Horror Show is Another Milestone in a Long and Cruel Legacy,” TRT World, June 20th, 2018
“Border Patrol failed to count hundreds of migrant deaths on US soil,” CNN, May 15th, 2018
“Exploring the Land of Open Graves: The US-Mexico Border,” www.oxygen.com, April 20th, 2018
“How America’s Border Policy is Designed to Kill,” The Takeaway, WNYC. April 4th, 2018
“Border Trilogy”, Radiolab, March-April 2018
“Living Writers” Radio Show, 88.3FM WCBN, January 10th, 2018
2017
“Jason De León: Compartiendo las Historias de los Inmigrantes.” La Prensa San Diego, November 9th, 2017
“Michigan MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Winner Uses Artifacts to Explore Immigration Policies.” Detroit Today, WDET 101.9 FM, November 7th, 2017
“15K Michigan ‘Dreamers’ Wary of Trump Changes.” The Detroit News, November 1st, 2017
“Antropólogo Resalta que el Desierto es el Arma ee EEUU para Detener Migración” Agencia EFE, October 13th, 2017
“Anthropologist Jason De León Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant.” All Things Considered, October 11th, 2017
“MacArthur Grant Winner Studies the Things Left Behind at the US-Mexico Border.” PRI’s “The World.” October 11th, 2017
“This MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant Winner Found a Smart Way to Spend $625,000.” MarketWatch.Com, October 15th, 2017
“The Things They Carried.” CityLab.com, October 16th, 2017
“Genius Awardees Given Freedom to Explore Interests.” DiverseEducation.com, October 15th, 2017
“An Interview with MacArthur ‘Genius’ Jason De León.” Longreads.com, October 2017
“The Gory Research that Helped an Academic Anthropologist Get a ‘Genius’ Grant.” Quartz, October 11th, 2017.
“The Border Wall is a Metaphor.” NewAmericanStoryProject.com, August 2017
“Hinterlassenschaften an der US-Grenze zu Mexiko: Jason De Leóns Archäologie der Gegenwart.” Raumwissen, Topoi, August 2017. Berlin, Germany
“DNA Samples from Immigrant Families Sought to Help ID Missing, Dead Relatives. AM New York, August 6th, 2017
“Tumbas Abiertas, Desde Centroamérica hasta Estados Unidos.” EFE, June 16th, 2017
“How Abandoned Baby Bottles Will Outlast Trump’s Wall.” Bustle.com, May 31st, 2017
“This Graphic Shows Why President Trump’s Border Wall Won’t Stop Immigrants From Crossing.” Time Magazine, May 16th, 2017
“New York Gallery Puts Refugee Backpacks, Belongings on Display.” Al Jazeera, April 16th, 2017
“Jason De León Dares You to Look Away From the Items Border Crossers Leave Behind.” The Village Voice, April 11th, 2017
“No Matter What You Think about Illegal Immigration, People Should Not be Dying Crossing the Border.” Now This News, March 26th, 2017
“For Migrants Headed North, The Things They Carried to the End.” Art & Design, Critic’s Notebook . The New York Times. March 3rd, 2017
“New Political Terrain for a Liberal Discipline.” Inside Higher Ed. March 2nd, 2017
“Tenemos un muro muy grande y más barato: el desierto de Sonora”. Deutsche Welle www.dw.com, March 1st, 2017
“‘Wall of Backpacks’ Set Up as Immigrant Exhibit in Opposition to Trump.” Latin American Herald Tribune, March 2017
“NYC gallery displays migrants’ backpacks, belongings.” Associated Press (reprinted over 100 times domestically and internationally). February 10th, 2017
“El Intenso Ambiente Político en el que Vive EEUU Está Inspirando a los Artistas.” Univision.com. February 10th. 2017
“Artists Stand On Ban, Wall of 700 Immigrants’ Backpacks To Be Showcased At Manhattan Gallery.” Travelerstoday.com. February 14th, 2017
2016
“Following the Migrant Trail.” University of Michigan News Wire Service. December 5th, 2016
“Undocumented Immigrants’ Advocates Grapple with Trump Presidency.” NBCNewYork.com, November, 2016
“Nature’s Wall: The Human Toll of Crossing the US Border.” The Christian Science Monitor, November, 2016
“The Hopes and Lies Driving Migrant Children to the US.” The Christian Science Monitor, October, 2016
“Archaeologists Digging Into the Here and Now.” Undark, September 2016
“The US Southwest Desert–Dangerous Death Trap for Many Migrants.” Thinking Aloud, Classical 89 Radio, Brigham Young University. August 2016
“Eine Reise auf Leben und Tod.” Die Tageszeitung, May, 2016
“Es una Enorme Máquina de Matar: Lo que el Desierto de Sonora Les Hace a los Cuerpos de los que Intentan Cruzarlo.” BBC Mundo, June 2016
“The Undocumented Killing Fields.” New Scientist, March, 2016
“Documenting the Undocumented: A Conversation with Jason De León on Migration, Disciplinary Boundaries, and the Ethics of Objects.” Interview for American Ethnological Society website, February 15, 2016
“Heat and Death.” The Times Literary Supplement. January 22nd, 2016
2015
“Forensic Photography and the Roads of the Dead.” Cultural Environments Blog. December 7th, 2015
“An Anthropologist Unravels the Mysteries of Mexican Migration.” National Geographic’s Sunday Book Talk. December 6th, 2015
“Beyond the (Familiar) Text: A #AAA2015 Roundtable Review.” Cultural Anthropology Online, December 21st, 2015
“Investigador afirma que EEUU usa el desierto como elemento disuasorio ante inmigración.” EFE, December 14, 2015
Radio Interview, 94.1 KPFA, November 22nd, 2015
“The Land of Open Graves.” Letters and Politics, 94.1 KPFA, October 29th, 2015
“There is No Mistaking that She is Dead”, book excerpt from The Land of Open Graves published in Salon.com, October 12, 2015
“ArtPrize is Made of People.” Hyperallergic.com, October 9th, 2015
“Rapidian on the Street: State of Exception.” The Rapidian.org, October 3rd, 2015
“Abandoned Backpacks Bring Stark Reality to ArtPrize.” Detroit Free Press, September 25th, 2015
“State of Exception.” Horizonte hosted by José Cárdenas (PBS Television). Arizona State University. April 28th, 2015
“ASU art exhibit showcases items left behind by illegal immigrants.” Fox News 10, Phoenix, Arizona. May 1st, 2015
2014
“The Deep Web Could Make Human Smuggling Safer.” Vice Magazine. November 5, 2014
“Walking Through Conflict Zones, Driving 200 Miles Per Hour and More.” National Geographic Weekend Radio Show. September 7th, 2014
“Photo Camp Arizona: Empowering Teens to Tell Their Stories of Border Life.” National Geographic Proof. August 25, 2014
“Powerful Images of Life at the US-Mexico Border—Photographed By Children.” Quartz. July 15th, 2014
“Arivaca Photo Camp.” The Connection. Volume 31: Number 7. July/August, 2014
“Border is Backdrop for Youth Photo Camp.” Arizona Daily Star. June 21st, 2014
“La Otra Cara de la Moneda: Niños Fotografían la Frontera.” La Estrella de Tucson. June 20th, 2014
“Lost and Found: Making Art from Migrants’ Trash.” Aljazeera America. May 26th, 2014
“National Geographic Explorer Jason De Leon Tells the Stories of Undocumented Migration.” Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life with Kate Ebner. VoiceAmerica Radio. April 14th, 2014
“Photo Camp Seeks to Change Border Scene.” Santa Cruz Valley Sun. April 9th, 2014
“Archaeology of Undocumented Migration.” Anthropology News. March 28th, 2014
“Selfless Snaps: Dax Shepard Wants To Help Kids Study Immigration Issues.” MTV.com. March 14th, 2014
2013
“The Undocumented Migration Project Uses Archaeology to Tell Migrant’s Stories”. Stateside with Cynthia Canty, Michigan Radio August 12th, 2013
“Backpacks from the Border”. New York Times Magazine July 19th, 2013
“An Anthropologist Records the Lives Behind the Border Crossings.” NBC Latino, July 25th, 2013
“Unpacking a New Life”. The 6th Floor: Eavesdropping on the New York Times Magazine, July 21st, 2013
“Migrants’ Trash in Southern Arizona Offers Glimpse of History”. Arizona Daily Star, July 21st, 2013
“The Things They Carried: Jason De Leon’s Undocumented Migration Project”. The Hairpin.com, July 19th, 2013
“Archaeological Students Comb Desert to Preserve Immigrant Trail”, Green Valley News, July 17th, 2013
“New type of immigrant trying to enter U.S., expert says”. Agencia EFE, July 14th, 2013. Story carried by Yahoo News, La Prensa, and others
“Understanding Migrants Through The Things They Carried” NPR’s Tell Me More, July 5, 2013
UMP Director Jason De León interviewed by National Geographic Education. June 2013
“Curating the Traces of Illegal Immigration.” Hypoallergenic, March 4th, 2013
“Interview with UMP Director Jason De León about the State of Exception exhibit.” As It Happens, CBC Radio, Canada. March 8th, 201
“U-M exhibit offers an engrossing look at struggles of undocumented migrants.” www.AnnArbor.com. February 24th, 2013
“Undocumented Migrant Exhibit at U-Mich humanities gallery.” Being Latino Magazine, January 27th, 2013
2012
“The Hidden History of Mexican Migrants.” PRI’s The World, October 11th, 2012
“Living, Breathing Archaeology in the Sonoran Desert”. Weekend All Things Considered, National Public Radio. March 24th, 2012
“Documenting a Migration.” Detroit Free Press, February 5th, 2012
“Sigue arqueólogo huella de migrantes.” Reforma February 3rd, 2012
“Items left at U.S.-Mexican border reveal hidden history of migration.” Worldview WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. Initial air date February 3, 2012
“Border Crossing Trash Worthy of Study Say Anthropologists.” Fox News, January 17th, 2012
“Antropólogo Estudia Objetos Dejados Por Immigrantes En Frontera”. Associated Press, January 18th, 2012
“The Undocumented Migration Project: University Of Michigan Researcher Documents Belongings Left Behind While Crossing The Border” Huffington Post, January 19th 2012
“Viewing Illegal Immigration Through Desert Debris” Miller-McCune Magazine. November/December Issue
“Don’t Call it Trash” Arizona Daily Sun, October 20th, 2012
2011
“Deportees Bused Afar: Border Patrol Aims to Break Migrants’ Cycle of Return by Sending them to Distant Exit Point.” Arizona Daily Star, August 21, 2011
“Immigration tracked through desert detritus” Nature News, April 11th
“The Journey to El Norte”. Article about the Undocumented Migration Project featured in Archaeology Magazine (Volume 64:1, January/February)
2010
“The Most Confusing Picture Possible” National Public Radio Interview on KUOW 94.9FM. Initial air date May 15, 2010
“The Anthropology of Garbage: Lecturer Jason De Leon Explores Modern Migration.” Columns Magazine, University of Washington Alumni Association
2009
“The Violent Spiral of Mexico’s Drug War” Interview on Weekday with Steve Scher, National Public Radio KUOW 94.9FM. Initial air date November 18, 2008