Speaker Series: Amelia Frank-Vitale

Amelia Frank-Vitale studies how people manage and make sense of an ever-expanding US border regime in the Americas. Vitale's body of work connects regional immigration and security policies, organized crime, state violence, and strategic immobility as a survival strategy in Honduras and in migration. Vitale's research trajectory began with a focus on transit migration in and through Mexico. There, they document the dangers facing mostly Central Americans who were attempting to migrate through an increasingly hostile landscape as immigration enforcement and collateral consequences of Mexico's so-called drug war put migrants in the cross hairs of both legal and illicit authorities. As part of this research, Vitale explored the various strategies that people employ to navigate this minefield, including coming together to migrate en masse, in the form of caravans, and making use of smugglers. To register, contact Sophie Kofman at [email protected].