The graduate students of the UCSC Anthropology department are excited to hold our 9th biennial Graduate Student Conference, Creating Anthropologies: Moving Between and Beyond Boundaries, on May 4, 2024. The conference will be held in a hybrid format, with an in-person event taking place at the UCSC main campus.

With this conference, we encourage the active participation of both graduate and undergraduate students, and will welcome abstracts from both at any stage of the research process, as well as from students at other universities, until the submission deadline of March 8, 2024 .

This conference will be co-hosted by the Friends of Lambda Alpha National Anthropology Honor Society, Alpha Gamma of California, Diversity in Anthropology, and the UC Santa Cruz Anthropology Department. 

Jason De León is Professor of Anthropology and Chicana, Chicano, and Central American Studies and Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective that seeks to raise awareness about migration issues globally while also assisting families of missing migrants be reunited with their loved ones. He is a 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and author of the award-winning book The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail. His upcoming book, Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, is an in-depth exploration of the human smuggling industry. Over seven years, De León embedded himself with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Mexico, providing a unique perspective on their lives and work. The book focuses on the character-driven narrative of one coyote who falls in love and attempts to leave the world of smuggling. It sheds light on the lower-level foot soldiers entering the smuggling business, as well as the morally conflicted gang leaders overseeing diverse crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail. The narrative is described as heart-wrenching and intimate, challenging stereotypes and providing a groundbreaking glimpse into a challenging and often misunderstood global industry.