Charles D. Thompson portrait
Charles D. Thompson, author of Border Odyssey: Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide published this website as a complement to his book. Thompson serves as a director of Undergraduate studies and is also a Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Documentary Studies at Duke University. His biography states that he “holds a Ph.D. in religion and culture from UNC-Chapel Hill, with concentrations in cultural studies and Latin American studies.” In addition, he holds an M.S. degree in Agricultural Education and is a former farmer himself. For this reason, the concerns surrounding agriculture resonate with him and motivate his various projects. “His particular interests include farmworkers, immigration, agriculture, Appalachian Studies, place, and pilgrimage”. Border Odyssey, pictured below, was released on April 15, 2015 and as described on Thompson’s website, “Border Odyssey is a quixotic, modern-day, too-small-rental-car determined drive toward understanding the US-Mexico divide: all 1,969 miles.”
The website features an About the project, Resources, Braceros, Contact and Home page. The About the Project page includes a quick description of the project as well as information about the book . The Resources page features an extensive list of sources that contain additional information on border topics. The Braceros contains a photo gallery of many of the ex-farmers that didn’t receive full compensation from their years of sacrifice and hard labor on American territory. This page also features the film titled Faces of Time/Los Rostros del Tiempo that explores an exhibit of photographs of the braceros that Charlie Thompson and students from College of Chihuahua and the University of Juarez helped create. All these features on the site are additional to the most prominent feature which is the interactive map. The map allows you to further explore the sites along the border.
Although the project is complimentary to his publication, Border odyssey serves as an informative source as a stand-alone project. Without reading the book, viewers of the project are able to find extensive information on past and present issues that surround the border.
This project is significant because immigration is relevant in today’s society. This project teaches more about the challenges it presents for both countries. Immigration has always been an issue of importance to the United States, with the peoples’ concerns over immigrant populations becoming apart of the workforce. The issue of immigration has also taken a more visible place in the spotlight considering the recent presidential election and his claims on cracking down on the movement of immigrants themselves into the United States. As well as demanding for the creation of a wall, the project shows you the walls already built, and how they’re maintained.
