Department of Sociology and Anthropology to screen film as part of global pop-up exhibition
The Georgia Southern University Department of Sociology and Anthropology will screen Border South, a documentary about migration in Mexico and parts of Central America. The screening is part of the Undocumented Migration Project’s global pop-up exhibition, “Hostile Terrain 94,” which will be featured on the Statesboro and Armstrong Campuses during the upcoming fall semester.
“As an anthropologist, I believe in the power of film to connect us to people with different lived experiences and perspectives,” said Kara Bridgman Sweeney, Ph.D., lecturer of anthropology. “This film has the potential to shine a light on the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border of the United States.”
The film, which will be shown on the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses on Feb. 19 and 20 respectively, follows Mexican-immigrant filmmaker Raúl O. Paz Pastrana on a four-year journey along migrant routes. Pastrana connected with people who shared their experiences along the way. It was awarded the Best Feature Award at the Society for Visual Anthropology and the Audience Award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.
“We get an intimate view of different experiences along migration trails from southern Mexico to the southern border of the United States,” Sweeney said. “The people who so generously shared their stories for this film are often dealing with harsh conditions and realities. Still we observe acts of kindness and mutual support, and we see there are benefits to finding humor in stressful situations.”
“Hostile Terrain 94” is a participatory art exhibit that will take place in more than 100 locations around the world between June and November 2020, including the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses of Georgia Southern. The exhibit features 20-foot-long maps of the Arizona-Mexico border populated with 3,500 hand-written toe tags that represent the recovered bodies of people who have died between 2000 and 2020 crossing the U.S./Mexico border through the Sonoran Desert.
Border South will be shown on the Armstrong Campus at 6 p.m. in the Armstrong Center Auditorium and on the Statesboro Campus at 6 p.m. in the Interdisciplinary Academic Building room 1020. For more information on the film, visit https://bordersouthfilm.com/.
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