Imperative Resilience: What Latina Migrant Mothers Can Teach Clinicians about Trauma and Recovery

May 03, 2023

Information

YCSC Grand Rounds April 25, 2023

Viola Bernard Special Lecture

Jessica Cerdena, PhD, MD Candidate and Medical Anthropologist at Yale

ID9894

To CiteDCA Citation Guide

00:00So good afternoon
00:02to those who are in the Cohen
00:04in person and via Zoom.
00:06It's my pleasure to welcome you to
00:08today's Viola Bernard lecture series
00:10presentation Imperative resilience,
00:12what Latina migrant mothers can teach
00:14clinicians about trauma and recovery.
00:16So before we get into that,
00:18I just want to remind you all that this
00:20is one of our lectures for which we have
00:24been granted 1 cultural competency unit.
00:26From the National Association
00:28of Social Workers.
00:29So if you are a masters person
00:34seeking licensure renewal,
00:36this will count towards your CEU's
00:38and if you anyone else in our
00:41community needs a cultural competency.
00:44Unit for their license or this
00:46will count for that as well.
00:47So for everyone,
00:48we just need you to sign in
00:50via the usual ways.
00:51Kieran's going to drop that in the
00:53chat for those online and there,
00:55the code is actually at the door
00:58and in the back for signing in.
01:00I don't have it present at the moment,
01:03but we'll take care of it
01:05and then what we'll need you to do.
01:08We would invite everyone to
01:09complete the evaluation at the end.
01:11It helps us to understand.
01:13If our presentations through grounds
01:15are hitting our objectives and also to
01:17get feedback from you and also it asks
01:20for suggestions for other speakers.
01:22So to get the CEU's we need you to sign in.
01:25At the end of Doctor Sedanya's presentation
01:28there will be two QR codes on the screen,
01:31one will be to sign out and
01:34the other will be for the eval.
01:36So please be sure to do that and for
01:37those of you who are in here you can
01:39also access that On the doors we have
01:41the QR codes for you to sign in as.
01:43Sign out as well
01:4834683 is what you should text to
01:52sign it 34683 so if you can take
01:55care of that that would be great.
01:57And so and thank you for helping
01:59us with this pilot for providing
02:02CEU's to make sure that all of
02:03our folks in our community can get
02:05credits for attending these that
02:06are useful for their licensure so.
02:11Logistics aside, I would before
02:13I introduce Doctor Sylvania,
02:15I want to first take a moment to
02:16share some information about Doctor
02:18Viola Bernard, her life's work
02:20and her generosity to our center.
02:22Viola W Bernard was a prominent New
02:24York psychiatrist, psychoanalyst,
02:25child welfare advocate,
02:27and political activist. Dr.
02:29Bernard was a founder of the
02:31field of community psychiatry,
02:32which sought to use psychiatric insights
02:35to address larger social purposes.
02:37She was an influential force in numerous
02:39child welfare organizations in New York City,
02:42was active in many
02:43professional organizations,
02:44and had particular expertise in the
02:47psychological issues surrounding
02:48adoption and infertility.
02:50Her work helped to expand adoptions
02:52to include children who had been
02:54systematically marginalized.
02:55Bernard helped found the Columbia
02:58University Center for Psychoanalytic
03:00Training and Research and was director
03:02of the university's Division of
03:03Community and Social Psychiatry.
03:08And I lost a joint program of
03:10the Department of Psychiatry and
03:11Columbia School of Public Health and
03:13served as a medical director of the
03:15Family Development Research Unit,
03:17a longterm study of the psychodynamics,
03:20which was, which was a longterm study of
03:23the psychodynamics of family in formation.
03:26Her dedication to social justice
03:28and HealthEquity and innovation,
03:30and the generosity of the Viola
03:32Bernard Foundation is part of
03:33what brings us here today.
03:35The Viola Bernard Foundation has a long
03:37history of supporting the Child Study Center,
03:39especially in the early 2000s.
03:42Doctor Bernard had little patience
03:44for bandaid solutions and sought
03:46instead to take multidisciplinary,
03:48multifaceted approaches to complex
03:49problems with the goal of producing
03:52sustainable and replicable solutions.
03:54It is in this spirit and dedication of
03:59Viola Bernard and the Child Study Center's
04:01approach of discovery inspiring care.
04:03That led to the establishment
04:05of the Viola W Bernard Fund.
04:07With their support,
04:09we founded the Viola Bernard
04:10Prize for Social Innovation and
04:12Mental Healthcare Delivery,
04:14in which we asked our community
04:16to innovate while incorporating
04:17the principles of design Justice,
04:19which seeks to center the voices
04:21of those served.
04:22Carla Marin was the recipient
04:24of last year's award,
04:25with Dakota Becker receiving a smaller
04:27award to support the portion of her
04:29project that incorporated Design justice.
04:31We're about to launch the second
04:33cycle of the award in May and
04:35hope to support other innovative
04:37healthcare delivery approaches.
04:38We're grateful to the Viola W
04:40Bernard Fund for the generous
04:42support which enhances our focus on
04:44HealthEquity and social justice.
04:46The other established contribution
04:47to the center is the lecture series,
04:50which is what brings us together today.
04:52And so when I try to think.
04:54Of speakers.
04:55I try to imagine who Doctor Bernard
04:57would be interested and excited to
04:59speak to and collaborate with to solve
05:02some of today's pressing challenges.
05:04And that brings me to today's speaker,
05:06Doctor Jessica Sedina.
05:07So when I'm out with my family
05:10or at the Child Study Center,
05:11I wear another hat in the community as
05:13the cochair of the Prossa Latino Fund.
05:15And that's an organization that
05:17seeks to elevate Latino leaders,
05:19celebrate our culture,
05:20and expand philanthropy within
05:22the Latinate community.
05:23And it's through this role that
05:25Doctor Sedania's work came to my
05:27attention as Lee Cruz shared her book
05:29and invited us to support a program
05:30to share her work within New Haven.
05:32And so as I got to know more about this,
05:35it really seemed like this would be
05:37a really fantastic talk for us today.
05:40So as we expand our understanding
05:42and recognize that much of the
05:44research we've learned from has
05:46not included diverse experiences,
05:48I was eager to hear more about what she
05:50learned from Latina migrant mothers.
05:53Since then,
05:53I've seen Justin's name popping
05:55up in many places, and tomorrow,
05:57in this very space,
05:58she'll be actually be hosted by the
06:00Program for Humanities and Medicine
06:02with a discussion and reading of her book.
06:04So just received her PhD in medical
06:07anthropology from Yale as part
06:08of the Medical Scientist Training
06:10Program at Yale School of Medicine.
06:12Her research broadly examines the biosocial
06:15underpinnings of health inequities,
06:17using scholarship and activism
06:19as tools for health justice.
06:22As an anthropologist,
06:23just authored the book Pressing
06:25Onward the Imperative Resilience
06:27of Latina Migrant Mothers,
06:28which narrates the ways women who
06:30migrated from Latin America overcome
06:32structural oppression to build futures
06:34for themselves and their children.
06:37In the realm of academic,
06:38Medicine just cocoined the term
06:40race conscious medicine as an
06:42alternative to racebased medicine
06:44to emphasize how racism rather than
06:47race determines illness and health,
06:49which you can read about in
06:51her numerous publications.
06:52Just aspires to a career as
06:54a family physician,
06:54anthropologist working at the
06:56intersection of research,
06:57community oriented,
06:58primary care and health policy.
07:01And she's matched into residency
07:03at middle at Middlesex Hospital
07:04and thankfully will continue her
07:06work locally in Connecticut as
07:08a community family physician.
07:10So before I bring Jess up,
07:11just a little note about her talk,
07:13which is the title is Imperative
07:15Resilience What Latina Migrant
07:17Mothers Can Teach Clinicians.
07:19About trauma and recovery.
07:21And so to me that invites us to
07:24put on our culturally humble hat,
07:26to listen to new ways of knowing
07:28and understanding,
07:29and just maybe suspend for a moment
07:31many of the teachings and things that
07:33you have learned beforehand to be
07:35open to these lessons that we can be taught.
07:38So without further ado,
07:40please welcome Jessica Seddenia.
07:49Thank you so much for that beautiful
07:51introduction and for the invitation
07:52to be here with you all today.
07:54It's really an honor.
07:56I I actually started a lot of this
07:58work with the with the general kind of
08:01psychiatry frame when I first kind of
08:04became interested in the experiences
08:05of migrant women as I was working as
08:08a behavioral health psychoeducator
08:09at Haven Free clinic and receiving
08:11a lot of training from psychiatrist
08:13actually at the Hispanic clinic.
08:14So it really is kind of a full
08:16circle moment here for me to be
08:18speaking to this audience.
08:19Of folks who come from a field that
08:21has largely informed my training
08:23and my orientation to approaching
08:25these kinds of questions.
08:27So my comments today come from years of
08:31research and engagement with migrant mothers,
08:34clinicians,
08:34and community leaders in New Haven
08:36and form the basis of my book.
08:39And given the focus of this seminar series,
08:41I want to focus this talk on
08:44the traumatic experiences that
08:45mothers have endured during their
08:47migrations from Latin America.
08:49This concept of imperative resilience,
08:52which I developed to describe how
08:55migrant mothers enact psychological,
08:57social and emotional strategies to get by
09:00or press onward in their daytoday lives,
09:02the impacts of the COVID-19
09:05pandemic on migrant families.
09:06And policy solutions to envision
09:09more nurturing environments for the
09:11patients and families in our care.
09:13I value and look forward to your
09:15feedback and hope that we can have
09:16a rich discussion at the end.
09:22Miss. I'm very sorry.
09:24Lydia halted her voice.
09:26Lacking the easy confidence
09:27of our earlier conversation,
09:29I worry that my details could be exposed.
09:32And the truth is very concerning,
09:34above all for the safety of my family.
09:37I reassured Lydia that her information
09:39would remain confidential and that
09:40she was welcome to share no more than
09:42she felt comfortable in Honduras.
09:44My husband was a doctor.
09:46He worked for the Ministry of Health
09:47and for the Attorney General's office.
09:49He was a coroner in the area where I lived,
09:52Lydia began, tentatively.
09:54What happened is that about a year ago,
09:57my husband began receiving
09:58anonymous letters at the door.
10:03After a couple months,
10:04my husband moved us to town
10:06about 20 or 30 minutes away,
10:07saying it was so that I
10:09could be closer to my work.
10:10But we were only about there a
10:12month when he tells me, look,
10:13my assignment has changed and
10:15we need to move to the city.
10:16The city was about six or seven
10:18hours away and so I asked myself,
10:19how could it be that we
10:21just unpacked our things.
10:22The last box from our moved a few
10:23days ago and we have to move again.
10:25My husband said again that
10:27it was due to work.
10:29So we moved and found a
10:30new school for my son.
10:31And then again,
10:31after about four or five months
10:33I noticed that my husband
10:34was acting more strangely.
10:36He never said anything to me,
10:37but I could tell and I would ask
10:38him about it and he would say he
10:40would never say anything until
10:41one morning before going to work
10:43he woke me up and said look,
10:45I I need to talk to you.
10:48That morning he had found my car
10:49with the entire passenger side
10:51beaten in and he found a note that
10:53said as much as you want to hide,
10:54we know where you are and we know
10:57where your wife and your son are.
10:58The police said that they were going
11:00to protect us, but it never happened.
11:02No one was outside the house.
11:04No one knocked on our door.
11:05To say we're here in case
11:07of any suspicious activity,
11:08I mean nothing, Nothing, nothing.
11:11We had a tourist visa for the US that
11:13we'd received three years prior.
11:14By the grace of God,
11:16we had no choice but to leave.
11:18We took one suitcase each.
11:20I didn't even say goodbye to my parents.
11:24Lithia and her family stayed with
11:26a relative for a few months.
11:27While they settled in New Haven,
11:29her husband took a job in landscaping
11:31to support them in Honduras.
11:33My husband was a professional,
11:34a doctor, and what does he do now?
11:37He had to learn to use tools.
11:39The changes in his body and his face and his
11:42hands have been Lady's voice trailed off.
11:45He comes home and plays with my son.
11:47And my son, says, Daddy,
11:48your hands hurt me and my husband says,
11:50well, yes, Look, my hands are
11:52hurt and my my son tells him yes.
11:54But don't touch me with your hands.
11:56You're hurting me.
11:58Lydia's family had applied for
11:59political asylum, but according to her,
12:01their lawyer,
12:01their case was complicated because
12:03they had overstayed their tourist visas
12:05because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
12:07Their case has not yet been processed.
12:09When we spoke,
12:10we move around with the greatest caution,
12:12Lydia said.
12:13Because we're already here illegal,
12:15you know?
12:17Lydia's story exposes the impact of
12:20sociopolitical violence in Latin America,
12:22although some migrants leave their homes.
12:24Their home countries voluntarily,
12:25out of a sense of adventure or
12:27to seek better opportunities,
12:29migration often results from failure
12:30of the state to protect its citizens.
12:33In these cases,
12:34migration may be a life or death decision.
12:37State failure and violence in
12:38Latin America compel hundreds
12:39of thousands to flee each year.
12:43Latin American history
12:45is pierced by violence.
12:47From colonization, African enslavement,
12:48and indigenous genocide in the 15th or
12:5118th centuries to political conflicts
12:53and brutal dictatorships amid state
12:55modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries,
12:58and social strife arising from state
13:01destabilization in the contemporary period,
13:03each era of Latin American history
13:05features acts of inhumanity perpetrated
13:08by dominant social and political
13:10groups against subordinate ones.
13:13While this history of violence.
13:15Affects individuals and communities for
13:18historic and transgenerational trauma.
13:20It is the current socio political upheaval,
13:22including assaults and homicides,
13:23as well as weak social safety Nets,
13:26that most directly informs
13:28decisions to migrate.
13:29This new violence reflects social
13:32disruption and the ways that gestures
13:34toward democratization have failed
13:36to meet the needs of citizens.
13:40Lydia detailed the pain of thrusting her
13:42four year old son into a strange country.
13:45It's so stressful for him to speak English,
13:47He asks me.
13:48But, mommy, why can't I speak English?
13:50And to everyone on the street or at Walmart
13:52or the grocery store or the laundromat,
13:54he says.
13:55Do you speak Spanish?
13:56Do you speak Spanish?
13:57He wants to play and interact with others,
13:59but he can't.
14:01It's so difficult.
14:03The decision to migrate
14:04is fraught with danger,
14:05destabilization, and isolation.
14:06Yet the advantages of life in the
14:08United States often outweighs the
14:10struggles of migration and resettlement.
14:12In short,
14:13state failure not only drives
14:16translational transnational migration,
14:17but also sustains it.
14:19A state's inability or deliberate failure to
14:22provide adequate protection and assistance,
14:24as well as full citizenship rights to all,
14:27undermines peace and stability.
14:29The production and maintenance of
14:31an underclass in Latin America,
14:33stripped of civic entitlements,
14:35spawns a new underclass of illegals
14:38in the United States who serve as a
14:41cheap and exploitable labor force.
14:43But the process of migration
14:45itself inflicts its own harms.
14:47Which I will illustrate that the
14:49story and narrative of Caridad.
14:53We
14:56were three or four women and thirteen
14:58men in the group, Caridad said,
15:00a 34 year old woman from Peru.
15:02If we had to run,
15:03we women knew that we'd be left behind.
15:06Betty that spent three months traveling
15:08from video to the Mexican border.
15:10She had to pay off multiple soldiers
15:12and border guards to arrive safely.
15:14They gave us a backpack with water,
15:16some fruit, and some canned food.
15:18The water was so heavy I didn't want to
15:20carry it, and the canned food was awful.
15:22It weighed so much,
15:23didn't give much energy, and made us sick.
15:25Two of the women became very ill,
15:27vomiting everything They took
15:28in and they had to turn back.
15:31On the second or third day,
15:32I couldn't carry it all anymore and
15:34I almost left everything behind.
15:35Another Peruvian man in the group had
15:37to help me carry my gallon of water.
15:39Despite all that, I became very dizzy.
15:42The man took out some oranges
15:44and pressed them to my lips.
15:46He told me I needed to go to
15:47the river to drink some water.
15:48I couldn't walk,
15:49so he carried me on his shoulders and
15:52brought water from the river we had
15:54to hide in in the holes in the ground
15:56from the immigration planes overhead.
15:59And when Border Patrol found us,
16:00the man and I, man and I,
16:01managed to hide in some bushes,
16:03but they caught the other woman,
16:04the niece of another traveler,
16:05and sent her back to Mexico.
16:07The uncle crossed back to
16:09find her and try again.
16:10And then it was just 12 men and me.
16:13I tried to lead.
16:14I thought, if I start,
16:15if they start running,
16:16where will that leave me?
16:18After several more weeks of travel,
16:20Caridad arrived to New Haven.
16:23It's safer here and Peru.
16:24They'll shut the lights out on the bus and
16:26steal the necklace right off your neck.
16:28What happened to me gave me a huge red mark.
16:31Here in New Haven, you can carry
16:33your purse to the store without worry.
16:36Plus, in the summer,
16:37it smells like the ocean, she added.
16:40Caridad's story attests to the physical
16:42toll of migrating across the desert.
16:44She endured dehydration, exposure,
16:46and the precarity of being a
16:49woman in mostly groups of men.
16:51Caridad was lucky she arrived at
16:53her destination safely without
16:54encountering immigration authorities.
16:57Less,
16:57less fortunate migrants may make
16:58multiple attempts at crossing the
17:00border after environmental hazards and
17:02immigration authorities forced them back.
17:06Latin American migrants face dangers
17:07such as thievery, kidnapping,
17:09extortion and dehydration.
17:10Women are also at greater risk of rape,
17:14assault, trafficking and forced prostitution
17:17after settling in the United States.
17:19Many of these women experience intimate
17:21partner violence as their social
17:23positions make them vulnerable to abuse.
17:25Over 75% of Latin American migrant
17:27women living in the United States
17:29report histories of trauma.
17:31Scholars Pereira and Onelas refer to heroin
17:34migration experiences as painful passages.
17:37In their study of 281 individuals,
17:39they found that 29% of foreign born
17:42adolescents and 34% of their foreign
17:44born parents living in the United States
17:46had experienced trauma during migration.
17:49Of those with traumatic histories,
17:519% of adolescents and 21% of
17:53their parents were at risk for
17:54post traumatic stress disorder.
17:56Coinciding Global and local
17:58socio political forces,
17:59including economic factors,
18:01government structures,
18:02and legal violence that shape
18:04migration experiences,
18:05also affect health outcomes.
18:09Trauma often involves a close encounter
18:12with physical and violence or death.
18:14But trauma also encompasses the
18:16emotional response to such experiences,
18:18the psychic scars left by
18:20tragic and painful events.
18:21Trauma is therefore a clinical and
18:24social event in which individuals,
18:26subjective memories of trauma,
18:27shape or rupture the sense of
18:30coherence in their lives and may
18:32lead to symptoms of mental illness.
18:34Migrants, including voluntary migrants
18:36as well as refugees and asylum seekers,
18:38are especially susceptible
18:40to trauma and its aftermath.
18:42Migration related trauma,
18:43a term referring to trauma surrounding
18:45departure or displacement from a
18:47country of origin and relocation
18:49in a destination country,
18:50applies to the experience of
18:52many of my interlocutors.
18:54Here I examine the specific
18:55traumas that migrants encounter,
18:57specifically the effects of legal
18:59violence of immigration enforcement
19:00and gender based violence as
19:02factors and health outcomes.
19:05When
19:09I crossed the border,
19:10immigration authorities caught me
19:1119 year old, Isabelle recounts.
19:13I'd arrived in Arizona,
19:15but they took me to Texas.
19:17I was there for a whole week.
19:18Being in jail was horrible.
19:19There were no windows,
19:21no way to look outside.
19:22If it was night or day, I didn't know,
19:24and the food was terrible.
19:26They told me it was called Laielera,
19:29the icebox,
19:30the place where they locked me up.
19:32It was freezing.
19:33They gave us these aluminum blankets,
19:35which helped a bit, but not much.
19:37It was so cold. I got a Nosebleed.
19:40A lot of blood came out and
19:41I couldn't get it to stop.
19:42They just gave me some ice and some
19:44kind of pill to make it stop bleeding.
19:46There were like 30 or 40
19:48of us locked in the cell.
19:49I didn't count.
19:51The bathroom was disgusting,
19:53open in a cell just covered by a few bricks.
19:55It smelled awful.
19:56I had no freedom to move about.
19:59I was locked in there the whole time.
20:01Some of the guards would intentionally
20:02wake us up when we were sleeping,
20:04banging on the doors.
20:06Some just walked around the cell
20:08trying to catch us doing something.
20:11And Movena was captured by immigration
20:13authorities 5 different times.
20:15On each occasion she was booked, stripped,
20:18searched and deposited at the border.
20:21They would grab us,
20:22put handcuffs on us,
20:23and ask us to remove our shoelaces,
20:24belts and anything we carried.
20:26We had to let our hair down.
20:28If we wore rings or earrings,
20:29we also had to remove them.
20:31They separated the women from the men.
20:32They arrested so many of us From
20:34there we had to wait until it was
20:36our turn to give our information.
20:38They took photos of us and fingerprinted us.
20:40And then they would just take us back to
20:42our cell until they would let us leave.
20:44They would grab like 15 people at once
20:45and then just dump us at the border,
20:47leaving us.
20:49Ascencion recounted her
20:50imprisonment with her two children.
20:52It was like a refrigerator, a ylera.
20:54The room felt very cold.
20:56They would wake you up and then undress you.
20:58You couldn't even lie down.
20:59It was so crowded.
21:03I conducted my field work at a time when
21:05the system and conduct of immigration
21:08authorities came under intensive scrutiny.
21:10In the spring of 2018,
21:11the 0 tolerance policy against
21:13irregular migration imposed by the
21:15Trump administration cruelly separated
21:16thousands of migrant children from
21:18their parents, hundreds of whom
21:20have still not been reunited.
21:22A number of congressional
21:24representatives publicized evocative
21:25photos of detention conditions,
21:27including images of unbathed children
21:29on cots with tinfoil blankets
21:31surrounded by chain link cages.
21:33This form of judicial punishment
21:35lays hold on the soul.
21:37Isabelle experienced the physical
21:39discomforts of crowded conditions,
21:41rationing of food,
21:42freezing temperatures,
21:43and sleep deprivation.
21:45But incarceration also has a
21:47cumulative dehumanizing effect.
21:49Constant surveillance and the targeting
21:51of migrant bodies for disciplinary control
21:53grooms them for their subservience,
21:55docility,
21:56and compliance.
21:57As members of an American underclass,
22:01migrant bodies also serve as
22:02the cows of regulation,
22:04emphasizing the role of the
22:06state in defining legitimacy.
22:07The Salvadoran sociologist Cecilia
22:09Menquivar and Lacey Abrego proposed
22:11the category of legal violence
22:13to describe the punitive and
22:15disciplinary functions of the law
22:17and the way it harms migrant bodies.
22:19They argue that immigration policies
22:22purposely construct the status of illegality.
22:26In fact,
22:27US immigration policy has
22:29historically engaged racist,
22:30exclusionary practices that welcome
22:32migrants as cheap sources of Labor while
22:35withholding state protection from them.
22:37The 1790 Naturalization Act required
22:39each natural naturalized citizen of
22:41the United States to be a free white
22:43person of good moral character.
22:44His orientation persisted with the
22:46Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,
22:48which banned Chinese nationals from
22:51from immigrating or claiming US citizenship,
22:53and the 1921 Emergency Quota Act,
22:55which set quotas for immigration from
22:57countries outside the Western Hemisphere.
23:00By contrast,
23:00the Immigration Act of 1864 and the
23:03Mexican Farm Labor Agreement of 1942,
23:05often known as the Bracero Agreement,
23:07provided for migrant labor to address US
23:10workers shortages on farms and in factories.
23:13US political leaders have continued
23:15to enact laws that allow US employers
23:18to access and exploit migrant workers
23:20while blocking pathways to full citizenship.
23:23In this way,
23:24immigration enforcement
23:25epitomizes racial capitalism.
23:27The subjugation of brown migrant
23:29bodies advances neoliberal interests,
23:31the Canadian activist and
23:33scholar Harsha Walia writes.
23:36US border rule reveals seamless relations
23:39between the carsal administration
23:41of genocide and slavery at home and
23:44imperial counterinsurgency abroad,
23:45domestic neoliberal policies of war,
23:47welfare retrenchment,
23:48and foreign policies of capitalist trade,
23:51and local and global regimes of race.
23:56U.S.
23:56policy has carefully configured the
23:58category of illegality as a socio
24:00political condition characterized by an
24:02unequal power relationship to the state.
24:04Unlike citizens and permanent residents,
24:05undocumented migrants cannot make
24:07claims to political or legal security,
24:09which compounds their vulnerability.
24:12If there were no borders,
24:14there would be no migration,
24:15just mobility,
24:16sociologist Nicholas de Genova writes.
24:19Moving from once home country to the
24:21United States involves separation from
24:23familiar social groups and structures.
24:25And transition and incorporation
24:27into the new society.
24:28But for many migrants,
24:30that latter process is incomplete.
24:32They are folded into the nation
24:34without becoming part of it and
24:36remain excluded and objectified.
24:39And
24:44now turn my attention to
24:45gender based violence,
24:46a particular concern for migrant women.
24:50One of the guides was a man about
24:5150 years old, Jacqueline told me.
24:54He said that I that I should
24:57stay and live with him.
24:58That he was going to give me everything,
25:01that he already had a wife,
25:01but he wanted to pay me to be his muher,
25:04his woman. I said no,
25:06that I had no intention of doing that.
25:09He pushed me to have sex with him.
25:11He told me if you don't accept,
25:13I'm going to leave you out in the dirt.
25:15And he said you have no one,
25:17you have no one here,
25:18and now you're in another country,
25:20so you can't do anything.
25:22I was afraid inside,
25:23but I told him he had no right to harm me.
25:25He laughed and said, Oh yeah.
25:28How can you prove it?
25:29Who do you think is going
25:30to look out for you?
25:32I answered my family that I
25:33have here in the United States.
25:36And so he said, what can your family do?
25:38Your family is there and you're here.
25:40You're in my hands.
25:42After that, he started treating me badly.
25:44He no longer paid attention to me.
25:46He would leave me behind
25:47and wouldn't wait for me.
25:49At one point when we were walking,
25:50a very big thorn like a nail or a screw
25:52got in my shoe and cut my cut up my foot.
25:55But the man was already so upset
25:57with me he refused to wait for me.
25:58I was scared that he would
26:00leave me lost in the desert.
26:02And I did get lost. Once, the guide,
26:04he left me and two others behind.
26:06And so we spent the night alone.
26:08I don't know if you've heard
26:09of those animals.
26:10They're like big dogs.
26:11They call them coyotes.
26:13They're huge and they eat people.
26:15We slept under the trees and we could
26:16hear the coyotes coming closer,
26:18shrieking and howling.
26:18We had no idea whether we would live.
26:21It was terrifying.
26:24Although the guy the guy never directly
26:27assaulted Jacqueline, his threats,
26:29intimidation and neglect after
26:30she rejected his advances rendered
26:32her journey far more precarious.
26:34Fear of rape was among the most common
26:36concerns for women who cross the border.
26:38In my interviews, I heard many variations
26:40of the same dread, Priscilla said.
26:42There were those rumors that they
26:44touched women, but you take that
26:45risk if you want a better life,
26:46the life you want to lead.
26:48It was ugly, you know, traveling as a woman,
26:50The men are very macho.
26:52I was afraid of rape.
26:54I thought of Coggiote would grab
26:55us when he was high in marijuana,
26:56but there were just two of us women.
26:58I was so afraid he would rape me.
27:01Although none of the women with
27:03whom I spoke reported being sexually
27:04assaulted during their crossings,
27:05their narratives may omit such experiences
27:08as result of feelings of shame or denial.
27:11Many, like Jacqueline,
27:12were harassed,
27:13intimidated and threatened with abandonment.
27:16And these fears are not unfounded.
27:18Up to 90% of women migrants suffer
27:21sexual violence.
27:22Likewise,
27:22threats of leaving women behind to cope alone
27:25in the desert have a ghastly basis in fact.
27:28In their study of bodies recovered
27:30along the migrant trail,
27:32the Binational Migration Institute
27:33found that women had 2.87 times greater
27:37odds of dying of exposure than men.
27:40The particular plight of women
27:42migrants often receives less attention
27:44and scholarly work on migration,
27:45perhaps because most individuals
27:47apprehended at the border are single men.
27:50Women's choices to migrate intentionally
27:52facing the risks of rape and
27:54abandonment highlight their agency.
27:56All my interlocutors recognize the risks.
27:58They undertook careful evaluations of
27:59their past and their possible future,
28:01and their decision to engage in
28:03the violent process of migration.
28:05So how should we understand the
28:07role of threatened violence and
28:08the gender indifferential and risk?
28:10Gender based violence is often invisible.
28:12Even penetrative sexual assault
28:14rarely leaves marks in the body.
28:16Despite the absence of visible scars,
28:18such violence persists into the
28:20futures of those who experience it.
28:22The anthropologist Carolyn Nordstrom notes
28:24that these forms of violence have a tomorrow,
28:26leaving behind shattered cells,
28:29confidences,
28:29futures.
28:30The most common trauma symptom reported
28:32by interlocutors was the harboring of
28:34strong negative beliefs about the world,
28:37such as no one can be trusted and
28:39the world is completely dangerous.
28:41These enduring attitudes shape
28:42the ways women relate to others
28:44and to their new environment.
28:48The nature of these symptoms
28:50underscores the limitations of clinical
28:52instruments for assessing trauma.
28:53The tool I used, the PTSD Checklist
28:56for the DSM5 or the P CL5,
28:58asked about experiences of sexual
29:00violence and threats of sexual
29:01violence separately allowing me to
29:03account for the common experience
29:05of fear of potential assault.
29:06But my index of trauma symptoms
29:08did not fully capture the warlike
29:11mistrust of others and lingering
29:13fear many of my interlocutors carry.
29:15After fearing sexual assault at the
29:17hands of her poggieros or smugglers
29:19confronting theft and enduring 2 months
29:21of immigration detention and with,
29:23Anna described A psychological
29:25state akin to shell shock.
29:27Some of these things hurt too much.
29:30You can never fully recover.
29:31I'm with, Anna said.
29:32When I first got here,
29:34it was different, difficult.
29:37Why couldn't I just lead a happy life?
29:39I was filled with negativity.
29:41Everything bothered me.
29:43She paused before continuing.
29:45From there,
29:46you decide to pull away from people.
29:48I stopped talking with my
29:49cousins and my friends at work.
29:51It's like no one can
29:53understand what happened.
29:55Such patterns of avoidance and mood
29:57change are characteristic of PTSD.
29:59Yet I'm within a score on the
30:01P CL5 was a two out of 80.
30:03The instrument failed to record her
30:05psychological sensitivity in the way
30:07that deep ethnographic engagement did.
30:08After my semistructured
30:09interview with Alamudena,
30:11we spoke about services that would
30:13benefit her and the power of being heard.
30:16Humanity needs to know these stories, right?
30:18About us immigrant women.
30:19Her tone became urgent.
30:21People do not know.
30:23It is honestly incredible that
30:25this is happening in humanity.
30:27Why build the walls, right?
30:28Or the borders?
30:29Without these barriers,
30:30so many people would not expose
30:32their lives because so many people
30:34have died right there in the desert.
30:36Why not just give us a permit
30:37so you can let us into work?
30:41And Lavanna said that I was the
30:42first person she had told about
30:44her experiences of near rape.
30:45The vulnerability and intimacy surrounding
30:47gender based violence and the fear of
30:50not being believed fosters isolation,
30:51as on Lavanna acknowledges.
30:53As I heard such stories,
30:55my ethnographic engagement often
30:56took the form of care work,
30:58turning my tuning my attention to the
31:00intimate needs of my interlocutors.
31:02Feminist anthropologists have commented
31:03on the profound care work they undertake
31:06with women survivors of sexual violence.
31:08Ethnographic research requires dedication
31:10to and solidarity with communities.
31:12In consequence,
31:13anthropologists often engage
31:15in translational aid,
31:16engaging their social capital as
31:18wellconnected academics to persuade
31:20those in power to understand and act
31:23on the needs of their interlocutors.
31:25As a medical student and ethnographer
31:27trained in psychoeducation
31:28and mental health first aid,
31:29as well as a Spanish speaker,
31:30often found myself providing
31:32psychological support and helping
31:34connect women with clinical resources.
31:36When mental health concerns
31:37exceeded my capacity,
31:38I connected women with mental health support.
31:40When they confronted deprivation or
31:42when they're isolation prevented
31:43them from fulfilling their needs,
31:44I facilitated social services like
31:47mutual aid and nutritional support.
31:49In some cases, I and my fatherinlaw,
31:52who works for a nonprofit organization
31:53engaged in social services for
31:55Latinx communities in Connecticut,
31:57delivered boxes of donated
31:58food to women and experiencing
32:00intense socioeconomic stress.
32:03And yet I found myself in awe of these women,
32:06who, despite immense economic
32:08adversity and limited social support,
32:10seemed astonishingly okay despite
32:13such harrowing, traumatic history.
32:15And as a mother myself,
32:17a Latino mother who found myself
32:19raising a young child challenging,
32:21even with a dual income partnership
32:23and familiar support with childcare,
32:25I was humbled by the mental fortitude these
32:28women exhibited comparing my situation.
32:30With theirs prompted me to reflect on my
32:34conventional understanding of resilience.
32:36The definitions vary.
32:37Resilience generally refers to
32:39engaging resources in the face
32:41of adversity to achieve goals.
32:43Unlike the concepts of positive
32:45psychology and competence,
32:46resilience considers social
32:47environment as a factor influencing
32:49an individual's ability to adapt
32:51to difficult life circumstances.
32:53Resilience and its companion concept,
32:55flourishing emphasize healthy functioning.
32:57Or at least an absence of psychopathology.
33:01These terms often imply wellbeing
33:03and positive or protective factors,
33:06which lend themselves to measurement
33:07using pre and post intervention
33:09assessments in behavioral health research.
33:11Nearly all scholars of resilience in
33:13clinical medicine, public health,
33:15and related social sciences agree
33:17that resilience should be optimized
33:19and seek to pinpoint it in ways
33:21that can be cultivated.
33:22This interpretation of resilience
33:24fixes the concept as a static
33:26characteristic akin to toughness or grit.
33:28Rather than as a process of rational action,
33:31a more nuanced conceptualization of
33:33resilience, use it as a trajectory,
33:35a process of adaptation or sustained,
33:36healthy adjustment over time.
33:38Interpretations of trauma and
33:40marginalization that recognize individual
33:42identity and agency within social,
33:45political and its cultural circumstances
33:47allow consideration of mental health
33:49responses that are not uniformly negative.
33:52When I discussed resilience and its relevance
33:54to this project with my research assistants,
33:56several cringed.
33:57At La Casa La Casa Cultura,
34:00the Latina Cultural Center at Yale,
34:01we talk a lot about resilience,
34:03but it's like it's like something white
34:05people think we have for making it here,
34:08one of my students commented.
34:09But that's not it at all.
34:11I mean,
34:12we're resilient because we have to be.
34:15We joked that the response to,
34:17wow,
34:17you're so resilient should be thanks.
34:19It was between that and dropping
34:22out or dying.
34:23Series of resilience tend not
34:24to conceptualize it as a mode
34:26of resistance to oppression,
34:28but my interlocutors reveal that
34:30that is exactly the dynamic at work.
34:32Resilience is not an ability or a choice.
34:35It is a conditioned response to
34:37the multiple forms of violence
34:38they encounter through racism,
34:40sexism, immigration enforcement,
34:42and economic inequality.
34:44In recognition of this reality,
34:46I propose the term imperative
34:48resilience to describe the
34:49strategies women employ cognitively,
34:51emotionally,
34:51and socially.
34:52To get by in the face of overlapping
34:55adversities,
34:59Priscilla, for example,
35:00told me that she could not afford to
35:02let her emotional responses interfere
35:03with her ability to handle stress.
35:05Instead, she focuses on problem solving.
35:08Let's say I do not have
35:10something I should For example,
35:12this month I only had half the money
35:14I need to play the electric bill.
35:15I couldn't make that bill this month,
35:16so next month I'm going to have to
35:17work more hours to cover it, cover it.
35:19If I get angry about it,
35:20things will just get worse.
35:22It won't solve anything.
35:23So I just try to calm down and
35:25look for solutions to be more
35:27economical and more organized.
35:28Christina seemed almost puzzled by my
35:30questions about how she bounces back
35:32from stress or other difficulties in life.
35:35I try to keep things simple,
35:36she responded.
35:37If I complicate things,
35:38I'm not going to solve anything at all.
35:40If I complicate things,
35:40I get home in a bad mood and
35:42I take it out of my children.
35:44But they are my responsibility.
35:45I have to be the responsible one.
35:48I get angry and yell and scream.
35:49To let off steam does nothing in the end.
35:52Quite the opposite makes things worse.
35:54I just have to calm down
35:55and look for solutions.
35:56I have to accept and endure Themes
35:59of acceptance and endurance and the
36:01desire to shield children from stress
36:03echoed throughout my interviews.
36:05Women felt it was their responsibility
36:07to minimize their affective responses
36:09to difficult circumstances to preserve
36:11the emotional and physical health of
36:13their children and their pregnancies.
36:17At first glance, the coping strategies
36:19employed by Priscilla might be seen as
36:21maladaptive and described clinically as
36:23emotional numbing and intellectualization,
36:25repression, cognitive avoidance Strategies of
36:28avoidance coping have been associated with
36:30greater life stress and depressive symptoms.
36:33But women like Priscilla also
36:35employ positive coping strategies,
36:36including problem solving,
36:38benefit finding, altruism,
36:40and personal and spiritual growth,
36:42although Priscilla might suppress
36:44her emotional reactions to stress.
36:46She does so out of concern for her children.
36:48She focuses on practice,
36:50practical solutions to her challenges
36:52like adjusting her budget and work hours.
36:54We can characterize these strategies
36:57for survival as imperative resilience.
36:59This is a performance that becomes
37:01actualized through practice.
37:03The necessity of suppressing
37:04negative emotions,
37:05emphasizing the positive and
37:07strategic problem solving,
37:08reflects not an inherent grit or toughness,
37:10nor special access to social
37:13material resources.
37:14Rather,
37:14it arises as a form of opposition
37:17to social injustice,
37:18a way of summoning personal and social
37:21capacity to fill the voids left by society.
37:27The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the
37:29deep fractures in our social safety net.
37:32Women like those in my study
37:34have been especially vulnerable
37:35to the effects of COVID-19.
37:37The height of the pandemic.
37:38Many who held low wage essential
37:39jobs were unable to work from
37:41home and were at risk of exposure
37:43to the virus in the workplace.
37:45Several lost their jobs and were barred,
37:47but were barred from collecting
37:48unemployment relief or the
37:50stimulus payments offered through
37:51the Coronavirus Aid Relief and
37:53Economic Security or CARES Act.
37:54As a result,
37:55they were compelled to engage
37:56in precarious work arrangements
37:57and many lacked the financial
37:59resources to stock up on food and
38:01household supplies and made more
38:02frequent trips to stores and that
38:04increase their risk of exposure.
38:06In addition, given lack of healthcare access,
38:08undocumented migrants were also
38:09less likely to receive prompt
38:12evaluation of symptoms of COVID-19.
38:14And in the intervening years,
38:16even though testing for COVID-19
38:17has largely remained free,
38:19evaluating,
38:19evaluation and treatment have not been.
38:22And those costs have deterred
38:23low income undocumented migrants
38:25from seeking necessary care and
38:26increasing their risk of locality.
38:30I used to work at Amazon scanning products,
38:33says Antoinetta,
38:33a 23 year old from the Dominican Republic.
38:36I liked the work, but it was long,
38:3711 or 12 hours at a time.
38:39I had to quit my job when Corona
38:41when I caught the Coronavirus there,
38:43I got it there and I haven't gone back.
38:44I'm too afraid,
38:45especially now that I'm pregnant.
38:47I worry something will happen to me again.
38:50Antoinetta contracted COVID-19 in
38:51May 2020 at an Amazon distribution
38:53warehouse in North Haven,
38:54CT Just one month later,
38:57allegations of the company's
38:58disregard for employee safety
39:00exploded throughout the news media.
39:01Warehouse workers criticize
39:03Amazon for failure to implement
39:05physical distancing protocols,
39:06noting that the wearable devices
39:08used to signal proximity of less
39:09than 6 feet to other employees were
39:12useless because it was impossible
39:13for workers to keep 6 feet apart.
39:15Some employees showed up to work
39:17despite COVID-19 concerns or symptoms.
39:18Out of fear of losing their jobs,
39:20many workers stated that they did not
39:22receive enough time to properly wash
39:24their hands and disinfect workstations.
39:26And they attested to delays or nonpayment,
39:28of compensation for quarantine or isolation,
39:30following exposure or confirmed infection.
39:34It was like a week.
39:34No, two weeks, I should say.
39:36My whole body ached.
39:37I couldn't even get out of bed.
39:39I had no sense of taste, no sense of smell.
39:41I couldn't eat much.
39:42Sometimes I felt like I couldn't breathe.
39:44But I never went to the hospital.
39:46I only went to get tested.
39:47I was scared.
39:48I just went out to get tested and I can't.
39:51And I went straight home.
39:52If they got really bad,
39:53they said I could go to the emergency
39:54room or I could call and they
39:56would send an ambulance for me.
39:57But I was. I was really scared.
39:59Antoinette's fears were twofold.
40:01First,
40:01she feared that if she had to
40:03be admitted to the hospital,
40:04her condition could worsen.
40:05Her cousin in the Dominican Republic,
40:07just 40 years old,
40:08had died in a hospital that
40:10had exceeded its capacity.
40:12They did what they could and she told me,
40:13but everything had collapsed
40:15because so many people had the
40:17coronavirus and my cousin just died.
40:18Antoinette feared a similar fate.
40:21Second,
40:21she worried that hospitalization
40:23would incur insurmountable debt.
40:24Although she had medical coverage
40:26through Husky state Medicaid
40:27after acquiring US residency
40:29through her citizen husband,
40:31she had been scarred by the cost
40:32of treatment when dizzy spells from
40:34dehydration and overwork at Amazon
40:35had landed her in the emergency room
40:37prior to the enlistment of her Medicaid.
40:39I got a big bill at Yale, she tells me.
40:42It's still there.
40:43I have to agree to pay it.
40:44Little by little,
40:45it just added up.
40:49And to another experience, along with
40:50those of many my other interlocutors,
40:52point to necessary policy reforms.
40:54First, we need universal healthcare
40:56for our migrant communities.
40:57That includes adequate behavioral
40:59and mental health services.
41:00In Connecticut, recent legislation has
41:02expanded Husky to children up to age 12,
41:04and a proposed bill would
41:06expand that to age 26.
41:07But still, many will remain uninsured.
41:10Even if that passes, we can do better.
41:13Second, we need provisions for basic
41:15needs like food, housing, diapers.
41:16Whether through universal basic
41:18income or the expansion of services
41:21like staff and TANF to noncitizens.
41:23Third, we need a clear and accessible
41:25pathway to lawful migration.
41:27Updating the migration registry,
41:28which has not been touched in
41:3040 years and has previously
41:32received bipartisan support,
41:33would adjust the status of an estimated
41:358 million undocumented residents.
41:40Monarch butterflies with just a three
41:42to four inch wingspan travel 50 to 100
41:44miles a day during their migration.
41:46Slapping their wings 5 to 12 times
41:48per second as the day is shorten
41:50and the temperatures drop there.
41:51In their breeding areas across
41:53the United States and Canada,
41:54the primary source of food,
41:56milkweed, disappears.
41:56The butterflies over winter in
41:58the mountains of central Mexico,
42:01shielded by oyami fir trees,
42:03whose microclimate protects
42:04them from extreme temperatures.
42:06As the days lengthen and the
42:08temperatures rise, however,
42:09this climate becomes inhospitable,
42:11prompting them to leave their roosting sites.
42:13Mated. Female monarchs leave first.
42:16Blazing a trail that the next three
42:18to four generations will follow.
42:19These long and exhausting migrations
42:21are essential to the breeding
42:23success of the monarchs.
42:24Their resilience,
42:25like that of my interlocutors,
42:26is a necessity,
42:27a means of survival in a
42:29harsh and everchanging world.
42:31I understand the resilience of
42:33Latin American migrant women as a
42:35resistance to structural violence.
42:37Instead of ascribing this
42:38resilience to social environment,
42:40I consider it a form of psychosocial
42:42rebellion against oppressive structures.
42:44Women summon religious beliefs,
42:46self conceptions of strength and
42:48altruistic concerns for their
42:50families to fight against social
42:52and economic subjugation to
42:53Segura Delante or press onward.
42:55And to summarize these points,
42:56I want to share with you a brief animation
42:59and hopefully the volume will work.
43:02When the weather turns and the milkweed
43:04Wilts, monarch butterflies lift their wings
43:07and embark on a perilous migration from the
43:09United States to Mexico in search of nectar.
43:12In the face of deforestation and climate
43:15change, they journey for their survival
43:17and for the survival of their offspring.
43:20There's could be a story of suffering,
43:22but I see it as one of power and persistence.
43:27Like the monarchs,
43:28mothers who migrate from Latin America to
43:31the United States face extreme obstacles.
43:33They craft their futures and
43:35the futures of their children,
43:36despite devastating inequality,
43:38harmful politics and a global pandemic.
43:42They too can be seen as sufferers.
43:45Instead, I see resistance.
43:48I call this imperative resilience,
43:50a strategic approach to push onward.
43:53Or Segura de Lante.
43:55Imperative resilience Sounds
43:57like Adelina telling me.
43:59Whenever something seems stressful,
44:01I just don't think about it.
44:03I'm just like there's going to
44:04be another day when you can make
44:06it better or Elvira explaining.
44:08You just have to accept it and adapt.
44:10Create something nice out of him so
44:13you don't have to focus on the bad.
44:15It looks like handpicked partnerships
44:17that provide the support mothers
44:19need to fulfill their family's goals.
44:22It feels like a spark When that
44:24moment of prayer or spiritual
44:26song carries a message from God,
44:28It echoes through the wisdom passed
44:30on by mothers and grandmothers to
44:32help their daughters dream bigger.
44:35But just like a cold snap shocks
44:38the monarchs.
44:38COVID-19 pandemic devastated migrant mothers.
44:42These women lost work and shuddered
44:44themselves at home to protect their children.
44:47They watched loved ones contract
44:49the virus and die.
44:51As Jacqueline puts it, it was like a trauma.
44:54I was afraid of what would happen
44:55if I got sick for three months,
44:58I didn't go out at all.
44:59We kept hearing about people dying.
45:03Women like Jacqueline need
45:04the essentials like food,
45:06diapers and healthcare.
45:08They need protection against domestic
45:10violence and a clear pathway to citizenship.
45:13Policymakers must build a more
45:15nurturing home for these migrant women.
45:18In New Haven, CT,
45:20a longtime refuge for migrants,
45:22children build monarch way stations
45:24where the butterflies refuel
45:25during their long migration.
45:27Like the monarchs,
45:28we do not have to force migrant
45:30women to suffer or starve.
45:32We can work together to create
45:34a more nourishing and equitable
45:35home for our neighbors.
45:48So in this conversation,
45:49I have attempted to consolidate
45:51hundreds of hours of conversations I
45:52had with women clinicians and community
45:54leaders to highlight the global and
45:56local forces that constrain women's
45:58life opportunities and how they push
46:00against those to meet their goals
46:02and the goals of their families.
46:03I want to emphasize a few points.
46:06First, the disintegration of
46:07democratic institutions in Latin
46:09America breeds mistrust and fear
46:11and forces women to migrate,
46:13which then entails its own experiences
46:15of trauma, migration related trauma.
46:17Second, despite these harrowing traumas,
46:20migration related trauma may not always
46:22register or cross clinical thresholds on
46:25conventional PTSD screening instruments,
46:26but may still cause a ruptured
46:28sense of self that affects how they
46:30engage with the world around them,
46:32which may still merit clinical intervention.
46:353rd Conventional public and
46:37mental health approaches may
46:42may view a few symptoms or the absence
46:44of symptoms to the multiple overlapping
46:46oppressions of legal violence,
46:47racism and gender based violence
46:50as evidence of resilience,
46:52but I argue that this is a necessary
46:55conditioned response or resistance to
46:57these multiple forms of oppression.
47:014th The term that I proposed to
47:03describe this is imperative resilience
47:04as it describes the cognitive, social,
47:06and emotional strategies women used to
47:08get by in the day-to-day to Segura,
47:11Delante, or press onward.
47:135TH the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately
47:16impact racially oppressed groups,
47:18particularly Latinx migrants,
47:19due to their inability to benefit from
47:22social support programs and the extra
47:24toll the virus claimed on Latinx bodies.
47:27Finally, no woman or family.
47:29Should be forced to rely on their
47:32intrinsic abilities to survive and build a
47:34life for themselves in a hostile environment.
47:36Migrant families deserve to be supported
47:38and to have enough capacity to grow their
47:41selfworth and invest in their dreams.
47:43Policy reforms like universal healthcare,
47:45basic income and housing support,
47:47and pathways to legal immigration
47:48can make this a reality.
47:52This is the information for my book.
47:56My disclosure is that I am the author,
47:58so I do receive royalties on it.
48:01And last, I just wanted to share this
48:03photo of me and my favorite mural
48:05in the Fairhaven neighborhood which
48:07says we RISE by Lifting others or
48:09Nos Elevamos Fonlevamos Savotros.
48:10And these are the information for
48:14the sign out and feedback. Yes.
48:18And I very much look forward to
48:20your feedback and discussion.
48:21Thank you.
48:29That's quite a performance.
48:36Thank you so much.
48:37Just for your talk today.
48:39You know there was of course I'm
48:41curious to know if folks have
48:43questions and while you sort of
48:44percolate on that a little bit,
48:46I was two things came to mind.
48:48You talked about the conditions that groom.
48:52Women and migrants to sort of be more.
48:56Thank you.
48:58So I've never really it made total sense,
49:02but I've never thought of it in that way.
49:04And so I was just curious if you
49:05could speak a little bit more to
49:06that and maybe the impacts of that.
49:08Yeah.
49:10So the conditions that I was
49:12specifically referring to are the
49:14conditions of violence and surveillance.
49:17So in order to be able to get here,
49:19you have to recognize that in some way
49:22you're you're jeopardizing your status and
49:25sacrificing your recognition as a citizen.
49:28And I say recognizing
49:29your status as a citizen.
49:31But I'm also talking about how in some
49:33ways you have also recognized that your
49:35home country has failed you as a citizen,
49:38but you're acknowledging that.
49:40You're you're compromising what you
49:42have as some legal recognition and
49:44you're subjecting yourself to a carceral
49:47condition by which you are going to be
49:49surveilled by immigration authorities.
49:51Or at least you're you are putting
49:53yourself at risk of being subjected
49:54for people who cross the border.
49:56Many will encounter immigration
49:58authorities at some point in that crossing.
50:00Whether they are actually picked up
50:02and detained is a different story,
50:04but that process of being surveilled
50:07and or being detained.
50:09Is grooming them from saying
50:10like I am going to lay low,
50:12I am not going to be exploited,
50:13I'm not going to raise issues
50:14with my employer,
50:15I am going to like follow the system and
50:18that's how we have this kind of like.
50:20You know, you know,
50:21we have a system right now by which
50:24undocumented folks pay more into the
50:26tax system and receive none of the benefits.
50:29But it's it's exactly,
50:30exactly against the tropes
50:31that people think of,
50:33like people coming here and
50:34benefiting from everything.
50:35So and this is,
50:36this is the way that immigration
50:38enforcement has worked as a racial
50:40capitalist structure to be able to exploit,
50:42exploit migrant labor.
50:43The other condition of is is these,
50:46these traumatic experiences,
50:47so the actual conditions of
50:48violence that people, people incur.
50:50Even if somebody comes and
50:51they overstay their visa,
50:53you know,
50:53women talk to me about being worried that
50:55if they traveled with the child that
50:56their child was going to be kidnapped.
50:58Or that if they,
50:59you know,
50:59came and they were overstaying their visa,
51:01that that there were going to be
51:03some kind of altercation with with
51:05folks during immigration when they
51:06were just coming into this country.
51:08Or experiences of racism or things like that.
51:11Genderbased violence more broadly,
51:13all these are experiences of
51:15violence and the accumulation of
51:16trauma that people are subjected
51:18to repeat victimization that.
51:20Mission people to basically
51:22lay low and and not not cause,
51:25not rock the boat so to speak as
51:27they live here as undocumented folks,
51:30particularly as women.
51:34Any questions that folks have?
51:36I have a million but
51:44first of all thank you so much.
51:45This is just wonderful work and
51:47can't wait to read your book.
51:49And congratulations. Thank you.
51:51I also have a million questions,
51:52but a couple that come to mind.
51:54You, you mentioned some women from the
51:57from Honduras if I remember in Mexico.
52:00Can you say a little bit about the
52:02geographic representation and what
52:04commonalities or differences along the way?
52:06And it also it makes me think that
52:08all the women you spoke about
52:10of course are Spanish speaking,
52:11what about migrants or immigration from
52:14other? Not the Spanish speaking countries.
52:16Anything that you can say about that?
52:17Again, there's many questions,
52:19but the the geographic representation
52:20would be interesting one.
52:22Thank you.
52:22Thank you. Yes,
52:23now that's a really wonderful question.
52:24I kind of skipped over like the general
52:27demographics to dive into stories,
52:28but basically I had women from
52:30a broad range of of countries.
52:33I would say that the highest
52:35representation of countries on
52:36that were included were Mexico,
52:38Guatemala and Ecuador,
52:41a which is pretty representative
52:42of the New Haven area.
52:44I also had a number of folks who
52:47were from Puerto Rico as well
52:49which I included in my study.
52:50I in when I was when I was deciding
52:52who to include in the study.
52:54I basically anyone who was I
52:56identified as having migrated from
52:58Latin America in in their lifetime
53:00and I let people define that.
53:02So I that included even having people
53:05who identified from the from the
53:08Caribbean that were not necessarily
53:10like you know from Jamaica or from
53:12Haiti and were English speaking but.
53:14But pretty much the vast majority
53:17of my interlocutors were primarily
53:19Spanish speaking.
53:20I think I had maybe three who preferred
53:23to speak English or you know,
53:25we did a mix of English and Spanish,
53:27depending on preference and in terms
53:30of kind of differences and experiences.
53:33It was. It was really variable.
53:34You know, I kind of expected that,
53:36you know,
53:36that folks from South America
53:38perhaps would be more likely to
53:39have come through visa overstaying,
53:41whereas people who are, you know,
53:43more geographically proximal to the
53:44border would have border crossed.
53:46But that actually wasn't the case.
53:48And I was also very surprised to
53:49see the the number of people who had
53:52actually physically crossed the border.
53:53I'd also predicted that being
53:55in Connecticut that there would
53:57have been fewer people who had
53:59actually crossed the border.
54:00But it was actually, it was about 5050.
54:03About half people,
54:04half the people who I spoke with had
54:06crossed the border and about half
54:07had had overstayed a tourist visa.
54:10I would say that in terms of,
54:11you know,
54:12comfort with English and also the
54:16the degree of social engagement
54:19and versus isolation.
54:21Folks who were from the Caribbean,
54:23I noticed tended to have more
54:25family already here and kind of
54:28established social relationships.
54:29Whereas I noticed that, you know,
54:30generally from, you know,
54:32other areas in Latin America,
54:34they were more likely to be more
54:36socially isolated and to have fewer
54:39kind of established connections here.
54:41But that's, you know,
54:42broader generalizations,
54:43individual cases varied and yeah,
54:47that's that's basically basically the case.
54:55That was beautiful. That was. And
54:56the animation and the
54:58metaphor for the monarch,
54:59it's it's really well done,
55:00just really beautiful work.
55:01And the quotes are so powerful.
55:03And I just wondered, those human
55:06stories can really resonate with people.
55:08I'm just wondering to what extent
55:10you connected with policymakers,
55:11is anyone supporting you in this work?
55:14Because I feel like these real human
55:16stories can make such a such a difference.
55:18Thank you so much for asking that.
55:19And I think it's a really important point.
55:21So basically I have tried to jump in
55:23at any opportunity that I have found
55:26where an issue has been relevant
55:29from when the New Haven City Board of
55:32Alders was talking about declaring
55:33racism as a public health issue.
55:35You know, I kind of collaborated
55:36with some of my interlocutors to
55:37talk about their experiences of
55:38racism and how it applied here.
55:40And actually, you know,
55:42arguing that, you know,
55:43racism is an intersectional issue that
55:45particularly affects migrants and how,
55:47you know, we need to kind of have.
55:48Of broader access to healthcare
55:50and you know basic social services.
55:53I'm using some of their experiences
55:56to to narrate.
55:57I've been involved with the Husky
55:59for immigrants movement in terms of
56:01kind of expanding Husky to you know
56:03broader ages of populations here.
56:04I also when you know with everything
56:06that had been going on with COVID I
56:08was involved in kind of writing a
56:10lot of policy memos talking about
56:12how to increase access for.
56:14For vaccination to undocumented
56:16migrant populations particularly but
56:19also Spanish speaking populations and
56:22submitted that to a lot of different folks.
56:26So I I do my best and I always welcome
56:30collaboration and you know folks
56:31who have relationships or existing
56:33connections or ideas on how to kind
56:35of use these different points as
56:37leverage as much as I can when I,
56:40when I have you know existing points
56:41of contact with my interlocutors,
56:43I really like to.
56:44Have their feedback and input.
56:45If I if they're their narrative
56:47is going to be part of testimony
56:48that I give or you know, if I am,
56:50you know speaking with a policy
56:52maker and you know,
56:53I think that their story is salient.
56:55It's not always possible because
56:56sometimes folks numbers have changed or
56:58if I haven't been in touch with them for,
56:59you know like a year and a half.
57:00It's a little bit hard.
57:01But you know,
57:02I always said at the end of every
57:05interview I always asked women,
57:06what do you want to come from this?
57:08And I always, you know.
57:10I I always keep that in mind
57:12and bear that with me, you know,
57:15thinking about what women said and you know,
57:16I I share the experience of what I'm with,
57:18Anna said.
57:19You know,
57:19saying like people need to hear our stories.
57:21People need to know what's going on,
57:22cause a lot of people are not aware
57:24and you know really are relying on
57:26kind of gross stereotypes thinking
57:27about what what is happening rather
57:29than kind of the grounded stories.
57:34I thank you so much for sharing.
57:35Those are incredible stories.
57:39I was really struck by, on one hand,
57:43how how powerful these narratives
57:44were and yet how the the inability
57:47of our assessments to capture that.
57:51And so I was wondering what suggestions
57:54or reflections you have on how we
57:56can make our tools more robust to
57:59really capture the experiences that
58:01these individuals have and all the
58:04other other possible experiences
58:05were missing out out there.
58:08I love that question and I think
58:10it's something that you know,
58:11anthropologists and global health,
58:12global mental health people have been
58:14you know reckoning with for like years.
58:16And it's so it's such a delicate
58:19balance between trying to you know
58:21capture volume and and you know triaging
58:24people who with the most urgent needs
58:27and also being able to appreciate
58:29kind of the depth and it's it is.
58:31I don't have the perfect answer but
58:34the things that I would offer would.
58:36To be always curious and and wanting
58:38to know more because you know if I,
58:41if I give the example some from
58:43some of my interlocutors, you know,
58:44if I just stopped and said that they
58:46didn't meet a clinical threshold
58:47and then they don't you know,
58:48merit services like that,
58:49you know that they're not clinically
58:51at risk or they're not,
58:53you know they don't qualify.
58:55That doesn't necessarily mean
58:56that somebody wouldn't benefit.
58:57And if you ask you know somebody
59:00further to kind of like put things
59:02in their own words.
59:03The story changes,
59:04like the narrative changes entirely.
59:06And this also gets into kind of like,
59:08you know,
59:08a lot of these instruments were designed by,
59:10you know, like Western, you know,
59:14Eurocentric, America centric.
59:16Folks who,
59:16you know are using a language
59:17that is very individualistic,
59:19not thinking about the the breadth,
59:21the lifespan, the collective.
59:22And it it proposes a lot of challenges for
59:25how people make meaning of their experiences.
59:28And of course, me now I'm sounding
59:29very much like an anthropologist.
59:30Like what?
59:31How does it relate in your world of meaning?
59:33But like really like that That's
59:35kind of where we where we can go
59:37with thinking about how people
59:39interpret and understand what
59:41these experiences are to that.
59:43Because yeah, somebody might say like,
59:44Oh well, you know,
59:45like I don't have.
59:46Nightmares but like I and dramatically
59:48interact with my world differently
59:50because of what this what this you
59:53know what this experience did and
59:55you know those are the kinds of
59:56things that you get out with like
59:58further follow up questions and
59:58or like paying attention to body
60:00language which is something that
01:00:01like you know we we learn about
01:00:03clinically we really pay attention
01:00:05to as anthropologist it's like I
01:00:07just I just noticed that you you
01:00:09hesitated there or like you know you
01:00:11you shifted right there like tell me
01:00:12what tell me what's going on like.
01:00:14You know and and really probing and
01:00:16being curious but of course when
01:00:18you have 15 minutes, 20 minutes,
01:00:19even a half an hour,
01:00:20you might not have all the time.
01:00:22So I I do recognize those limitations
01:00:24and I just you know,
01:00:25I can just offer that saying like
01:00:27you know that the answer might not
01:00:29tell you everything and everyone I
01:00:31think deserves kind of that that
01:00:32openness and curiosity in time.
01:00:36So technically at the end
01:00:38of our time, however Jess
01:00:40is going to linger with us for a bit.
01:00:42So if there's more questions if you're.
01:00:44Interested in staying and
01:00:45asking more questions?
01:00:46Please do thank you to everyone on
01:00:49Zoom and everyone who came here
01:00:51for joining us today and further
01:00:54questions and your engagement.
01:00:56I am gonna ask a question so
01:01:00you were talking and so if
01:01:02you must leave, feel free.
01:01:05Thank you.
01:01:09And I'll say it this
01:01:10way so that others might be
01:01:12interested in in listening.
01:01:13But you, your stories and the stories that,
01:01:17well, the stories of the women that
01:01:19you shared reminded me very much
01:01:20of a case of a woman that I worked
01:01:23with who crossed from from Mexico
01:01:25and who came with her little child.
01:01:27And it was remarkable to me,
01:01:29and they went through so much of
01:01:32the situations that you described.
01:01:34And the resilience, the forced resilience,
01:01:37the imperative resilience,
01:01:38right was was evident because mom could
01:01:42so quickly like switch into her frontal
01:01:45lobe to make decisions and figure things out.
01:01:48But it was actually her child symptoms that
01:01:50brought her in and opened her up to again.
01:01:54She would have listed,
01:01:56been listed as asymptomatic
01:01:57or maybe not meet threshold,
01:02:00but she absolutely benefited.
01:02:01From the work but could make find
01:02:03the way into her child because
01:02:05her child was having more symptoms
01:02:07that were sort of classically PTSD.
01:02:09And her love for that child and
01:02:12her concern for that child being
01:02:15able to be well and benefit in
01:02:17every way they possibly could from
01:02:20this journey was at the forefront.
01:02:22And to watch the engagement of this mom
01:02:25and child based on healing this this
01:02:29experience was also healing for mom.
01:02:31In that I also wonder though you
01:02:33talked a lot about the resilience and
01:02:36I wondered what did you come across
01:02:38folks who were pretty symptomatic
01:02:40and and what was what was that like
01:02:41and what were some of the barriers
01:02:43maybe that you found in in trying
01:02:44to get them some support and were
01:02:46there any successes in that?
01:02:48So the interesting thing about
01:02:49talking with you all as an audience
01:02:50is that you probably do encounter
01:02:51the more symptomatic people.
01:02:53And I always wonder,
01:02:54like if I had more of a selection
01:02:56bias given that I was talking
01:02:57with women who were in pregnancy,
01:02:59who were engaged in care,
01:03:00who were generally overall doing well.
01:03:02And the the flip side
01:03:04that I imagined is like,
01:03:05you know what is what happens when like this,
01:03:08when people like run out,
01:03:09like when this this.
01:03:11Tactic this like practice strategy of
01:03:14an imperative resilience like comes
01:03:16up short and I imagine that for a lot
01:03:19of this these women it can look like.
01:03:22You know, really cracking and,
01:03:24you know, having a Child Protective
01:03:27Services involvement or it can involve,
01:03:29you know, having carceral involvement.
01:03:31It can involve, you know,
01:03:32deportation.
01:03:32It can involve having their own,
01:03:34you know, like psychological or
01:03:36psychiatric distress such that they,
01:03:39you know, need to it be an intensive
01:03:41treatment or it can involve,
01:03:42you know, having.
01:03:44Either behaviors or, you know it,
01:03:46like environmental situations,
01:03:48such that their child needs to have
01:03:49this kind of intensive involvement.
01:03:51And the thing that I always come back
01:03:55to is thinking about how no one should
01:03:58be in this position to begin with.
01:04:00Like really, you know,
01:04:02we can do so much more to create
01:04:04situations where we are not.
01:04:07We you know like this should really
01:04:08be a last resort like all of us
01:04:11in this room like we we we know
01:04:13that like if we're thinking about
01:04:14like the mental health provision
01:04:16pyramid like y'all are at the top
01:04:19like and and that really we we need
01:04:21to be like making more robust like
01:04:23the the infrastructure at at the
01:04:26bottom like that you know the the.
01:04:28The policies, the services,
01:04:30the way that we culturally are
01:04:34oriented toward a ethic of care.
01:04:37And I think that that is where we fall short.
01:04:40And I think that that's where we can,
01:04:41you know,
01:04:42invest so much more because like
01:04:44I would like to see that that
01:04:47that dyad that you know, mother,
01:04:49child dyad, you know have.
01:04:53If it got to the point where you
01:04:54know this child is having so much so
01:04:56much symptoms that they already had
01:04:57all the food that they needed that
01:04:59they already had stable housing,
01:05:01they already had enough money
01:05:03to pay their bills.
01:05:04And that, you know,
01:05:05really like it was at the point where
01:05:07like really investing in you know
01:05:10those that that that attachment that
01:05:13you know coping strategies like that
01:05:15was really the the next like icing on
01:05:18the cake to get them over over the.
01:05:20Over the edge to to a place
01:05:23of healthy functioning.
01:05:24But I think too often what what
01:05:26gets people to you know everyone's
01:05:28door here is that all those other
01:05:30things are not in place and it it
01:05:33puts people to a place that puts
01:05:35people to a point of distress.
01:05:36So so yeah I I do imagine like that
01:05:38you know you you see a lot of the
01:05:41symptomatic people and that is where
01:05:42kind of this like functioning of an
01:05:44imperative resilience falls fall short.
01:05:46But I I really think that
01:05:47we can invest more in the.
01:05:49The surrounding policy environment,
01:05:52Thank you. I'm going to take
01:05:54you off the and again thanks.