Abstract
The thesis explores how some undocumented Latinx immigrants thrive and understand their personhood and security in the current “immigration crisis” in the U.S. Using ethnographic tools such as interviews and participant observation, I gathered undocumented Latinx immigrants’ narratives about living in Orlando, Florida. I concluded that American immigration policies use lack-of-freedom strategies to limit their experiences and rights as human beings, also as a means to deter future immigrants. Through the lens of undocumented Latinx immigrants’ stories, I analyze the relationship between freedom, power, and identity in the social hierarchy of privileges in the United States to understand how their experiences are negatively affected by intersectional issues. The COVID-19 pandemic was a breaking point that made more visible the structural inequality and vulnerability of undocumented migrants alongside other marginal populations. In this research, I expand an anthropological discussion to think through more just alternatives of life and humanizing immigration policies in the United States. I raise both anthropological and philosophical questions for addressing these social justice matters.
Thesis Completion
2020
Semester
Summer
Thesis Chair/Advisor
Falu, Nessette
Degree
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Release Date
8-1-2020
Recommended Citation
Rivas Navarro, Guadalupe, ""Yo, Indocumentadx:" Latinx Undocumented Immigrant Identity, Freedom, and Anti-immigrant Discourses in the United States" (2020). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 801.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses/801