May 19, 2013 - 2:12pm
Jason De León named one of this year's National Geographic Emerging Explorers
BY WILL GREENBERG
National Geographic magazine named Jason De León, assistant professor of anthropology, one of the 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorers this week.
The award provides recognition and support, with a $10,000 prize, to those who are “uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers scientists and innovators who are at the forefront of discovery, adventure and global problem-solving,” a University press release stated.
Award winners cannot be nominated but are selected by a panel. This year, the magazine recognized 17 people for their work, including anthropologists, archeologists, physicists, entrepreneurs and others.
De León is the director of the Undocumented Migration Project, an anthropological study intended to better understand undocumented migration into the U.S. The project utilizes several tools, such as collecting and documenting artifacts left behind in the Sonoran Desert, to gather information about the migrants.
De León said the project involves a combination of archeology, new forensic developments and interviews in Mexican migrant shelters.
De León said his team has learned a lot from observing the different items migrants leave behind from their travels. For example, over the past ten years, as crossing the border has become much more dangerous, he has seen changes in the items migrants pack.
“It used to be a lot of personal possessions,” De León said, “We’ve seen over the last five years that people are more and more recognizing that this is such a dangerous process and that it’s more important to carry more water, extra socks, than it is to take one or two personal possessions from home.”
De León added that undocumented immigration is a highly debated political topic, but doubts his work will contribute to either side of the argument. His long-term goal is to “demystify” the immigration process for Americans.
He said he was happy to be recognized by National Geographic because his work “isn’t the most popular.”
De León is currently working on a book about the project that he hopes to complete by winter of 2014.
