Cathartic Writing, Collectivity, and Care Among Undocumented Mexican Immigrants

Event Description

This talk draws from an ethnography of a little-known therapeutic community of undocumented Mexican immigrants living in the United States. The foundation of this community is a grueling three-day healing ritual called an experience. This talk describes one such experience that took place in the Northern California forest in 2022, focusing on its novel practice of cathartic writing. I argue that this writing practice is far more than a tool for self-care or self-expression; it is also a medium for collectivity and political critique. By writing a “self” that is never alone, the experience provides a mode of care and healing that enables immigrants to collectively weather and represent the myriad forms of violence that accompany undocumented life.

Angela Garcia is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Stanford University. She studies the historical and institutional processes through which violence and suffering are produced and lived. A central theme is the disproportionate burden of addiction, depression, and incarceration among poor families and communities. Her books include The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession Along the Rio Grande (UC Press, 2010) and The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death and Hope in Mexico City’s Anexos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024).