ABSTRACT
The Undocumented Migration Project (UMP) is a long-term anthropological study of clandestine migration from Latin America across the US-Mexico border that draws on ethnography, archaeology, and forensic science to understand various elements of this controversial social process. Since its inception, the UMP has used photography as a field method employed by both researchers and migrants themselves. Drawing from the work of the UMP, this chapter discusses the role of the camera as a tool in anthropological research. It considers some of the technical issues experienced in the field as well as the participatory methods used to understand the complexities of the undocumented migration experience, especially its irreducibly to the physical act of crossing a geopolitical boundary without authorization. Finally, it addresses the complicated ethical role that images play in their attempts to represent the everyday violence and death associated with undocumented migration.
