By Nicole Lyons,
March 23, 2026

Anthropologist and award-winning author Jason De Le贸n will present a public lecture
on April 7 at UCM.
The 欧美视频 (UCM) and the McClure Archives and University Museum
invite the community to a public lecture by anthropologist and award-winning author
Jason De Le贸n on Tuesday, April 7.
De Le贸n, a renowned scholar of migration along America's southern border, will have
several events on campus during his visit April 6-7, including class visits, a student
reception and a faculty and staff reception.
He will present a lecture at 6 p.m. April 7 in Nahm Auditorium in the W.C. Morris Building, followed by a book signing. Both are free and open to the public. The University
Store will have copies of his book available for purchase at the lecture.
De Le贸n is a faculty member at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where
he serves as director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Loyd E. Cotsen Endowed
Chair of Archaeology, and professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o and Central American
Studies.
He is also the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP) Inc.,
a 501(c)(3) research, arts and education collective that seeks to raise awareness
about migration issues globally while also assisting families of missing migrants
to be reunited with their loved ones.
Since 2009, the UMP has been studying clandestine migration between Latin America
and the United States using a combination of ethnographic, visual, archaeological
and forensic approaches to understand this violent social process. De Le贸n has published
numerous academic articles and his work with the UMP has been featured in a variety
of popular media outlets.
He is the author of two award-winning books: 鈥淭he Land of Open Graves: Living and
Dying on the Migrant Trail,鈥 featuring photos by Michael Wells, and 鈥淪oldiers and
Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.鈥 鈥淪oldiers and Kings鈥 won
the 2024 National Book Award for Nonfiction. De Le贸n is also a 2017 MacArthur Foundation
Fellow.
For more information about De Le贸n, visit . For more information about his UCM visit, contact Amber Clifford, professor of Anthropology and director of the McClure Archives and University Museum, at clifford@ucmo.edu.