La Línea De Tiempo Traumática De La Inmigración: La Representación De Los Efectos Perjudiciales Del Trauma Y La Política De Inmigración En The River Flows North (The Trauma Timeline Of Immigration: The Representation Of The Detrimental Effects Of Trauma And Immigration Policy In The River Flows North)

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Madeline Byrd (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Advisor
Adrienne Erazo

Abstract: The 2009 novel The River Flows North by Chicana author, Graciela Limón, tells the story of nine Mexican and Central American immigrants and their deadly trek across the Mexico-United States border. Their journey begins in La Joyita, Sonora, Mexico, and continues through the vast desert of Arizona towards la Ocho, a highway that leads to a new life in the United States. The novel sets the scene for an exploration of the push factors of immigration as the origin of trauma for immigrants. This trauma and its psychological ramifications continue throughout the immigration process, even when they reach the United States. Limón presents traumatic experiences throughout the novel which function to investigate trauma theory and the health threats that migrants face before and during the immigration process, as well as the psychological consequences they have on immigrant identity. By employing the experiences of the characters throughout Limón’s novel, I will analyze immigration as an exploit of the mind and body, demonstrating that identity is dependent, at least in part, on the physical body. Additionally, I will investigate how these symbolic examples of trauma prove to the reader that current anti-immigration policies in the United States are unjust and inhumane.

Additional Information

Publication
Honors Project
Byrd, M. (2021). La Línea De Tiempo Traumática De La Inmigración: La Representación De Los Efectos Perjudiciales Del Trauma Y La Política De Inmigración En The River Flows North (The Trauma Timeline Of Immigration: The Representation Of The Detrimental Effects Of Trauma And Immigration Policy In The River Flows North). Unpublished Honors Thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
Language: English
Date: 2021
Keywords
immigration, trauma, mental health, gender violence, Mexico, Central America

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