United States Immigration Policy: Anthropological Perspective & the Media by Madeline Poullette

United States Immigration Policy: Anthropological Perspective & the Media by Madeline Poullette

Anthropology

This paper identifies the general approaches that news sources and anthropological sources embody to communicate their information to their audience. I analyze how the portrayed themes influence the possibility of change concerning the status of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Immigration is a socio-political problem prominent in the news media, and I would argue that this is due to the hysteria created by prominent news sources. News sources are thriving on their ability to instill resentment, anger and fear into their viewers. The media misinforms many people in the United States on the topic of undocumented immigrants through use of negative terminology, reinforcement of myths concerning crime and economic contribution through the instillation fear and anger through referencing undocumented immigrants as the ultimate enemy, and by hosting and interviewing the “experts” to elicit information on the topic. Anthropologists focus on the moral and ethical considerations that are lacking in our country’s laws. Unfortunately, the complexity of the text is limiting in the sense that the average American simply does not have the time and does not want to put in the effort to understand their ideas and perspective on a topic. Anthropological work concerning undocumented immigrants and immigration policy hold a critical role in the activism realm of academe. The next step for anthropologists is to present their current findings in a way that the general public can easily ingest the information and join their activist journey to ultimately see a transformation of public policy regarding undocumented immigrants and deportation in the United States.

Poullette, Madeline

Senior Showcase Oral presentation

Ripon College

April 23, 2015

The author reserves all rights.

pdf

Major: Anthropology
Minor: Spanish

Plymouth, Wisconsin

Activist Anthropology