Dr Alejandra Diaz De Leon
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Email
alejandra.diazdeleon@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 873054
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Location
5A.327, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I am a qualitative researcher of undocumented migration. I do ethnography, qualitative interviews, and participant observation in Mexico and the United States. I have two main research interests. The first one is transit migration, violence and trust. I study ethnographically how Central American migrants in transit through Mexico form trust and bonds among themselves in order to survive and help each other. I have recently published a book on this subject. I am also researching how humanitarian actors and migrants understand the climate crisis as a reason for leaving their home countries. This will be a three year project where, with a team, we will do fieldwork in migrant houses along the migrant route in Mexico interviewing migrants, activists, and stakeholders.
Qualifications
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PhD University of Essex,
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Migration, solidarity and trust
I study how migrants in transit form social ties while they are crossing the unpredictable and dangerous migrant route.
Migration and the climate crisis
I study how migrants from Central America interpret the climate crisis as a reason for leaving their home countries.
Human Rights
Latin America
Migration and Health
I am interested in how migrants' health is affected by the process of migrating.
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Researching the Real World: Qualitative Approaches to Studying Crime and Society (SC203)
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Childhood Innocence and Deviance (SC311)
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Migration: Theory, Concepts and Selected Issues (SC982)
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Living a Good Life: Critical Approaches to Wellness and Happiness (PA107)
Publications
Journal articles (12)
Eguiluz, I., Díaz de León, A., González Zepeda, CA. and Trejo Peña, AP., Repensar, reinventar y reflexionar la investigación cualitativa en tiempos de covid-19: el caso de los estudios migratorios. Caleidoscopio - Revista Semestral de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades
Doering-White, J., Diaz De Leon, A., Batista, CA. and Flynn, K., (2024). Humanitarian aid and the everyday invisibility of climate-related migration from Central America. Climate and Development, 1-8
Hasemann Lara, JE., Díaz de León, A., Daser, D., Doering‐White, J. and Frank‐Vitale, A., (2024). Towards a social determination of health framework for understanding climate disruption and health‐disease processes. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 38 (3), 313-327
López, ME., Diaz De Leon, A. and Castro Sam, AS., (2024). Mujeres a la fuga. Narrativa del viaje como vehículo de resistencia para las mujeres en tránsito por México [Women on the run. Narrative of the journey as a vehicle of resistance for women in transit through Mexico]. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revue canadienne des etudes latino-americaines et caraibes. 49 (3), 410-427
Doering-White, J., Díaz de León, A., Hernández Tapia, A., Delgado Mejía, L., Castro, S., Roy, K., Cruz, GQ. and Hudock-Jeffrey, S., (2024). Climate-Health Risk (In)visibility in the Context of Everyday Humanitarian Practice. Social Science and Medicine. 354, 117081-117081
Díaz de León, A., (2023). Family dynamics, violence and transit migration through Mexico. Third World Quarterly. 45 (5), 888-902
Doering-White, J. and Díaz de León, A., (2023). The Shelter Multiple: How Humanitarianisms Hang Together at a Mexican Non-governmental Migrant Shelter. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 50 (18), 1-19
Corona-Maioli, S., Díaz de León, A., Machado-Núñez, S., Gómez-Juárez, JE. and Berenzon-Gorn, S., (2023). Respuestas ante la ausencia familiar en la migración de adolescentes no acompañados en México. Salud Pública de México. 66 (1, ene-feb), 37-49
Díaz de León, A., (2023). Resignation and Resistance: How do Undocumented Central American Migrants View Detention in Mexico? = Resignación y resistencia: ¿cómo perciben las personas migrantes centroamericanas la detención migratoria en México?. Journal of Latin American Geography. 22 (1), 11-30
Díaz de León, A., (2022). “Transient Communities”: How Central American Transit Migrants form Solidarity Without Trust. Journal of Borderlands Studies. 37 (5), 897-914
Díaz de León, A., (2021). Why do you trust him? The construction of the good migrant in the Mexican migrant route. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 0 (111), 1-1
Díaz de León, A. and Yrizar Barbosa, G., (2021). Diseño de investigación-acción participativa: ethos en espacios de ayuda a migrantes en México [Participatory Action Research Design: Ethosin Spaces to Support Migrants in Mexico]. Estudios Sociológicos de El Colegio de México. 39 (116), 599-614
Books (1)
Díaz de León, A., (2023). Walking Together Central Americans and Transit Migration Through Mexico. University of Arizona Press. 0816546479. 9780816546473
Book chapters (2)
Díaz de León, A. and Doering-White, J., (2024). Ties along the arterial border in Mexico. In: Forced Migration across Mexico. Routledge. 128- 142
Diaz De Leon, A. and Yrizar Barbosa, G., (2024). The “Zero Tolerance Policy” to Separate Migrant Families: Context and Discursive Strategies to Foster Exclusion. In: Excluding Diversity through Intersectional Borderings Politics, Policies and Daily Lives. Editors: Merla, L., Murru, S., Orsini, G. and Vuckovic Juros, T., . Springer. 55- 71. 3031656229. 9783031656224
