Book

Walls of Indifference is an anthropological investigation of the politics of immigration in Arizona and the various forms of activism associated with it. It is also an exploration of how United States history, policies of “law and order,” discourses of race,  and nationalist discourse and sentiment help to create the conditions for the gradual militarization of communities.

In the book I discuss the following:

• How militarization emerges in communities and neighborhoods
• The effects of and rationale behind racial profiling (i.e. criminalization)
• The “war on immigration”
• The effects of the border wall on the borderlands geography and its peoples
• The language of “undocumented migrants” versus “illegal immigrants”
• The relationship between border walls and gated communities
• The narrative and mythology of the “Wild West”
• Nationalist sentiment and discourse
• Political polarization and civil war
• Discourses of “whiteness,” race and class antagonisms
• The social and psychological effects of militarization
• The institutionalization of violence