Dissertation Defense of Jennifer Huddleston
The Effects of Working with Unidentified Migrant Remains Caregiving, Border Security, and Human Rights on the U.S.–Mexico Border
June 12, 2026
10:00 am
Zoom Link: https://odu.zoom.us/j/4036321801?omn=92062818679
Abstract:
This dissertation examines the effects of working with unidentified migrant remains along the U.S.–Mexico border, focusing on the caregivers who recover, identify, and care for the deceased. Drawing on interviews, field observations, documentary analysis, and reflexive visual ethnography conducted in South Texas, this research explores how migrant deaths are shaped by border security policies and managed through identification, storage, and burial systems. The study argues that practices surrounding unidentified remains are not only humanitarian or forensic concerns but also forms of governance that reflect broader tensions among border security, care, and human rights. By centering the experiences of caregivers, including forensic anthropologists and volunteer search-and-recovery teams, this research contributes to conversations about migration, securitization, trauma, and the ethics of witnessing in spaces where death has become normalized.
This dissertation offers theoretical contributions to understanding governance after death, empirical insights into the infrastructure of border deaths, and methodological contributions through the integration of visual ethnography and grounded qualitative research.
Committee:
Regina Karp, Chairperson
Peter Schulman
Marques Carina