Anthropology

Filmmaker Raúl O. Paz Pastrana and anthropologist/artist/activist Jason De León answer questions about their film documenting the stories of immigrants who have disappeared along the trail running from southern Mexico to the US border.

What is it like to live with a disability in Russia? What happens when an ethnographer sets out to write a play based on the stories of fieldwork participants? What happens when American theater-makers with disabilities stage a play about Russia? I WAS NEVER ALONE is an ethnographic play about the experiences of people with mobility and speech impairments in contemporary Russia. Playwright-ethnographer Cassandra Hartblay reflects on the process of developing the script, bringing an anthropologist’s sensibility to examining disability studies and performance ethnography.

Fragmented stories from individuals crossing through southern Mexico assemble a vivid portrait of the thousands of immigrants who have disappeared along the trail running from southern Mexico to the US border. “Border South” reveals the immigrants’ resilience, ingenuity, and humor as it exposes a global migration system that renders human beings invisible in life as well as death. (Guatemala, Mexico, USA, 83 minutes. Director: Raúl O. Paz Pastrana.)