Dr Alejandra Diaz De Leon
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Email
alejandra.diazdeleon@essex.ac.uk -
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. 17 (1), 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 (2)
Diaz De Leon, A., (2024). La migración centroamericana a través de México: familias de origen, familias del camino y comunidad transitoria de migrantes. Publicaciones El Colegio de Mexico. 978-607-564-619-0
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
