Of all readings in this class, the title of this book used such vivid imagery that it struck me for seconds. Throughout the book, the author continues to rely on visual elements to communicate his raw observations by using images of real people-an attempt to emphasize the “realness” of the situation. This strategy surely achieves its goal somewhat, for these pictures really turned texts into voices to me as I read. However, the pictures concern me greatly as I think about the welfare of these individuals. Although the writer did mention that people explicitly agreed to include their pictures in the research, what if that decision was made on the spur of the moment? Would these pictures trigger traumatic memories for them as they look back later on? How would their children feel when seeing their parents’ faces featured that way? This, to me, raises a more important question of what role the researcher needs to assume. Should it be sufficient to conduct the research according to the informants’ explicit consent or should researchers go further to think on behalf of the informants and account for possible change of decision?
Despite my concern with using photographs of real people, I really like how the author adopts an interdisciplinary approach in her writing, using not only ethnography but also archeology to analyze and convey her ideas. To me, this strategy on its own sets the book apart from others of the same genre, and reflects the degree of thoughtfulness and devotion of the author
In terms of content, The Land of Open Graves touches on the issue of indirect violence, which refers to the complex forms of violence implicit in various federal policies including ‘Prevention through Deterrence’. The book does an excellent job of detailing how such intangible and abstract idea comes into play through portraying the experiences people involved in border crossing. The idea of indirect violence raises the important question of the hidden agenda behind each federal policy and how different interest groups are represented in those policies. I’d go further and argue that even the clean-up process, which claimed to resolve environmental issues caused by border crossing, is part of that indirect violence, for it perpetuates a dismissive narrative regarding the migrating people.
Another aspect I find intriguing is how Memo and Lucho chose to forget parts of their traumatic experiences and appear ‘seemingly content’. I wonder whether these behaviors reflect their resilience and acceptance, or that such forgetfulness is their coping strategy, in which they shut down extremely painful memories. If the latter hypothesis is correct, then what will results if one day some image triggers the return of these memories?