Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hernandez, Sarah

Area of Concentration

Social Sciences

Abstract

This thesis explores how people who have been deported to Mexico experience and confront state-sanctioned family separation. From a content analysis of 23 interviews in the Humanizing Deportation public access community story telling archive, three key themes emerge: mixed-status families are denied equal access to family unity, attempts and considerations of re-entry post-deportation are affirmations of the value of family unity, and experiences in detention illustrate the dehumanizing experience of family separation. Theories of coloniality, human rights, and state control over reproduction provide ethical and long-term historical lenses that elucidate the experience of deportation and family separation. The content analysis also demonstrates how these individuals affirm their parenthood, family roles and unity, and reproductive rights; henceforth asserting their humanity.

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