“A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary.” (25) – Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza Echoes from the Borderlands is an exceedingly relevant and poignant exploration of the U.S./Mexico Border that …
For migrants traveling north to the U.S.-Mexico border from countries like Chile and Brazil, the trip has become virtually impossible without two things — a smuggler and social media. Read More…
Fleeing gang violence in El Salvador, Nancy and her two children sought asylum in the United States. Instead, they found themselves stuck in a border camp in Matamoros, Mexico — and the U.S. immigration system. Over the course of a year, in texts, voicemails and other dispatches from Matamoros, Nancy slowly unspooled her harrowing story …
A 5-year-old boy named José and his father fled the violence in Honduras and headed to the United States. They were separated at the border. What has happened to them in the weeks since? Read More…
The Trump administration’s recent border policy is, in part, a response to the large numbers of migrants who have been making the journey to the United States from Central America. For many, staying in their native countries is no longer an option. Read More…
The story of what happened when federal agents showed up in a small town that had overwhelmingly voted for President Trump, and his campaign rhetoric became a reality. Read more…
How many times in your life have you been asked, “Where are you from?” If you’re a person of color living in the United States, odds are that your answer is complex — it’s not just about a place on a map, but also family, history, traditions, work, and how you express yourself. Read More…
Over the past year, a record 2,000 migrants from Africa have drowned trying to reach Spain. Many of these migrants — mostly from Morocco, across the Strait of Gibraltar — make the journey in rickety vessels, not much bigger than canoes, that often don’t stand up to strong currents. Read More…
In August, Abrahm Lustgarten, who reports on climate, watched fires burn just 12 miles from his home in Marin County, Calif. For two years, he had been studying the impact of the changing climate on global migration and recently turned some of his attention to the domestic situation. Suddenly, with fires raging so close to …
Spurred by his Mexican heritage and the growing nationalism in the United States, Lozano-Hemmer embarks on his most ambitious project to date: Border Tuner, an enormous intercom system at the border between El Paso and Juárez that allows participants from both sides to speak and listen to each other via radio-enabled searchlights. At his studio in …
The Cuban American civil engineer turned writer, Richard Blanco, straddles the many ways a sense of place merges with human emotion to make home and belonging — personal and communal. The most recent — and very resonant — question he’s asked by way of poetry is: how to love a country? Read more…
Reporter Jason DeParle’s new book, ‘A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves’, attempts to capture the global systemic challenges emanating from mass migration. In this interview with NPR ‘All Things Considered’ host Ari Shapiro, DeParle explains why he believes migration is the defining story of the 21st Century. Read more at NPR… …
Almost five years ago, Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) 2.0/b.a.n.g. lab released the first iteration of the Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT), a mobile-phone technology that provides poetry to immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border while leading them to water caches in the Southern California desert. Creative writer Leila Nadir discusses the role of art and activism with Ricardo …
From The New York Times: “I am happy, like a myna/Life in a caravan, thinking about my friends/Let’s go to the garden,” go the upbeat lyrics from “Khandahar,” a poem first written in English and then translated to Farsi by two Afghan sisters, ages 9 and 12, who were living in a trailer in the sprawling …
From the LA Times: “The Vatican has said that Pope Francis’ journey through Mexico, which takes him from the southern state of Chiapas to the northern border with Texas, symbolically traces the route of migrants trying to reach the United States. Five Central American migrants attempting that journey reflect on their faith and the pope’s …
From The America Media Podcast: “J.P., an undocumented immigrant for most of her life, speaks about why her family moved from South Korea to the United States, the challenges she faced as an undocumented immigrant and how gaining temporary legal status changed her life. She also discusses immigration reform legislation, the subject of this week’s editorial in America.”
“The New York Public Library’s Community Oral History Project is an initiative taking place at NYPL branches that aims to document, preserve, and celebrate the rich history of the city’s unique neighborhoods by collecting the stories of people who have experienced it firsthand.” Featuring stories from members of many communities in NYC including Harlem, Greenwich …
MY DETAINMENT STORY OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP FEELING SAFE IN MY OWN COUNTRY AND HATE BORDER AGENTS* Earlier this month, OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and …
At this briefing, hosted by the International Organization for Migration and the Migration Policy Institute, speakers discuss the critical issues surrounding women’s labour migration in the Asia-Pacific region and the related opportunities and challenges. The event marks the launch of the IOM-MPI Issue in Brief, Women’s Labour Migration from Asia and the Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges, …
Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union This is the second panel from the day-long conference, “Better Work for Immigrants: Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union,” held in Brussels and organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the European Commission. The …
After four years of war, Syrians are everywhere in Istanbul — on street corners, squatting in abandoned buildings. But a new venture run by Syrian and Turkish book lovers aims to be a cultural oasis for Arabic readers, and, along the way, give Turks a fuller picture of the Syrians, Iraqis and Libyans increasingly filling …
“While bachata may have originated in the Dominican Republic, its growth in popularity over the past 10 years is not rooted with in the shores of the small Caribbean nation but in the outer boroughs of New York City. It was here that the now-legendary bachata group Aventura formed. Aventura would go on to change the …
In May 2014, Yusor Abu-Salha (R)–one of the victims of Tuesday’s shooting in Chapel Hill–recorded a StoryCorps interview with Mussarut Jabeen (L), who was her 3rd grade teacher. In fact, all three of the victims–Yusor, her husband, Deah Barakat, and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha–attended Jabeen’s school. Mussarut Jabeen returned recently to talk about Yusor’s death. …
There are probably as many terms for different kinds of English vernacular as there are vernaculars themselves: pidgin, patois, slang, creole dialect and so on. [From Public Radio International] CLICK HERE to listen.
Rainey is 13, her hair is tied back in a long ponytail. One of her favorite foods is tabbouleh, served on top of rice. She was born in Lebanon and she has grown up here, which explains her love of tabbouleh, a Lebanese salad made with parsley and bulgur wheat. But the Lebanese would never eat …
At American Experience, we believe that stories have the power to inform, inspire, empower, and even heal. We also believe that history is personal and often profound. Inspired by the Academy Award®-nominated film Last Days in Vietnam, which chronicles the harrowing final hours of the Vietnam War, we joined forced with StoryCorps to create the First …
