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Wendy Vogt: Etched into Place: Migrant Journeys

April 6, 2022

5:30-11:50pm

Luther College will host the Price Distinguished Lecture “Etched into Place: Radicalized Landscapes, Embodied Movements and Solidarities along Central American Migrant Journeys,” by Wendy A. Vogt in recognition of Women’s History Month. The lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in Room 102 of the Franklin W. Olin Building.

During her lecture, Vogt will discuss forms of solidarity and place-making within the often violent and racialized landscapes of migrant journeys, much of which is covered in her book, “Lives in Transit: Violence and Intimacy on the Migrant Journey.” In this award-winning work, Vogt draws from her long-term ethnographic fieldwork and chronicles the dangers faced by Central American migrants as they journey through Mexico, investigating how “economies of violence, intimacy and care develop along these transit routes.” 

“I’m talking about economies based on the kidnapping of migrants or holding people ransom or forcibly recruiting people to work for the drug cartels, but also the way local communities and local people are making their living selling everyday items or food to the migrants passing through their towns,” said Vogt of her research in a 2020 interview. 

Vogt is an associate professor of anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. As a sociocultural anthropologist, her work aims to utilize both feminist and political-economic approaches in understanding methods of mobility, violence, security and humanitarianism in Europe and the Americas. Her current research in Spain examines transatlantic mobilities and the strategies of movement and unity that are created by migrants. 

“Wendy Vogt’s work is extremely relevant to understand the transit journeys of migrants, both the violence they experience and the immense acts of solidarity that are concentrated in migrant shelters along the way,” said Anita Carrasco, associate professor of anthropology. “As a community, Luther College has had the honor to host Jason De Leon’s traveling exhibit entitled Hostile Terrain. In it, our students have been able to honor migrants whose lives were lost in the desert by filling out name tags of the dead. I see professor Vogt’s contribution as an important addition that brings light to these issues by expanding the scope of our understanding of the migration problem beyond the US/Mexico border.”

The event is open to the public with no charge for admission. To view via livestream, visit luther.edu/events for the link on the day of the event. It is sponsored as part of the Lucille Brickner Brown Price Distinguished Lecture Series, which supports speakers who illustrate women as leaders in today’s society. It is also sponsored by Luther College’s Identity Studies program and by Minnesota Public Radio. 


About Luther College

Luther College is home to about 1,800 undergraduates who explore big questions and take action to benefit people, communities and society. Our 60 academic programs, experiential approach to learning and welcoming community inspire students to learn actively, live purposefully and lead courageously for a lifetime of impact. Learn more at luther.edu.

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