Bringing the Border to Columbus | Keynote by Robin Reineke

Photograph of border wall along long, dirt road
April 16, 2021
4:30PM - 6:00PM
Zoom

Date Range
2021-04-16 16:30:00 2021-04-16 18:00:00 Bringing the Border to Columbus | Keynote by Robin Reineke Bringing the Border to Columbus Virtual Symposium April 12-16, 2021 Throughout the past two decades, thousands of people have died or disappeared in the U.S. desert borderlands north of the U.S.-Mexico international border. Meanwhile, families of the missing and dead have had to fight for the inclusion of their loved ones as legitimate members of society with rights to forensic services, care and remembrance. While being personally committed to caring for their loved ones or ending the anguish of not knowing, families also confront state authorities and demand attention to their case in highly political, but largely invisible ways. They contest state processes of illegalization and invisibilization and have become key actors in forensic work along the border. Drawing on over 14 years of participant observation and forensic humanitarian action in southern Arizona among families and forensic scientists, in this talk, Reineke will focus on the invisible labor of families of the missing and dead and the impact it has had on the social memory of racialized state violence in the borderlands. Finally, they will invite collective recognition of some of the border’s dead and missing whose families have requested they be publicly named and remembered. Presenters Robin Reineke | Assistant research social scientist at the Southwest Center, The University of Arizona *Introduction by Kenneth Madsen | Associate professor, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University Accessibility If you have questions or require an accommodation, such as live captioning or interpretation, to participate in these events, email Event Coordinator Melissa Rodriguez (rodriguez.796@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before an individual event date will generally allow us to coordinate seamless access, but the university will make every attempt to meet requests made after this date.  Acknowledgments This event was funded by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery theme. It is co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, Center for Folklore Studies, Urban Arts Space, Department of Sociology and Institute for Population Research. Zoom America/New_York public

Bringing the Border to Columbus Virtual Symposium
April 12-16, 2021

Throughout the past two decades, thousands of people have died or disappeared in the U.S. desert borderlands north of the U.S.-Mexico international border. Meanwhile, families of the missing and dead have had to fight for the inclusion of their loved ones as legitimate members of society with rights to forensic services, care and remembrance. While being personally committed to caring for their loved ones or ending the anguish of not knowing, families also confront state authorities and demand attention to their case in highly political, but largely invisible ways. They contest state processes of illegalization and invisibilization and have become key actors in forensic work along the border. Drawing on over 14 years of participant observation and forensic humanitarian action in southern Arizona among families and forensic scientists, in this talk, Reineke will focus on the invisible labor of families of the missing and dead and the impact it has had on the social memory of racialized state violence in the borderlands. Finally, they will invite collective recognition of some of the border’s dead and missing whose families have requested they be publicly named and remembered.

Presenters

  • Robin Reineke | Assistant research social scientist at the Southwest Center, The University of Arizona
  • *Introduction by Kenneth Madsen | Associate professor, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University

Accessibility

If you have questions or require an accommodation, such as live captioning or interpretation, to participate in these events, email Event Coordinator Melissa Rodriguez (rodriguez.796@osu.edu). Requests made two weeks before an individual event date will generally allow us to coordinate seamless access, but the university will make every attempt to meet requests made after this date. 

Acknowledgments

This event was funded by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery theme. It is co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program, Center for Folklore Studies, Urban Arts Space, Department of Sociology and Institute for Population Research.