MIGRANT PORTRAITS
v i s u a l i z i n g i m m i g r a n t P h o e n i x
Brief interviews and portraits of migrants we met while going about their daily activities. Some have lived in metro Phoenix for a long time, and others arrived recently.
Crystal Cespedes
September 2016
Juan Martinez' story conveys pride, strength and even a bit of the blues, like the many well written arrangements in Mexican ballads he enjoys.
Crystal Cespedes
October 2016
Somali businesswoman Barlin Mohamud offers culinary treats at her cafe popular with Somali customers.
Argenis Hurtado Moreno
March 2017
A portrait of Griselda, an artist and activist with an uncertain future due to her DACA status.
Hussein Mohamed
March 2017
This 10-minute video documentary presents a portrait of the underworld subculture of a sport that is hugely overlooked in sports-conscious Phoenix metro: cricket. A bit like baseball, cricket is a bat and ball sport in which two teams of 11 players take turns batting, fielding and scoring runs. Phoenix houses 18 cricket teams whose players are largely immigrants (and their descendants) from British-influenced countries like Sri-Lanka, Jamaica, Pakistan, India, South Africa, and Bangladesh.
See abridged version of these interviews created for Displacements, a virtual conference sponsored by the Society for Cultural Anthropology & the Society for Visual Anthropology, April 19-21, 2018. (4:3)
Argenis Hurtado Moreno
March 2017
In high school Estefania dreamed of joining the US Army, until she discovered that her lack of legal residency would keep her from enlisting to serve the country she thinks of as hers. Her story illuminates dilemmas of facing DACA recipients.
Jose Grijalva
April 2017
Just as it is the people that make a home, our little piece of Arizona is shaped by those who now live here, including Iraqi immigrant families like Noor’s. Jose relished the mountains of food and lively chit chat at the weekly gathering at Noor's family's home.
Ileen Younan,
April 2017
Language links one generation to the next and ties immigrants' culture to their homeland. Ileen introduces us to Noelle from Iraq, who teaches Aramaic to children of migrants at St. George Parish of the Ancient Church of the East Arizona, an Assyrian Church.
Argenis Hurtado Moreno,
March 2018
Andres is a member of a borderless cyber-community. He connects with others around the world in virtual realities and opts out of real-world social constructs, like borders and citizenship. Refusing to identify himself by citizenship status, this DACA recipient elects to identify with a community that sustains him without barriers: gamers.
Ceiphers Brings Fashion and Philanthropy to Phoenix
Nina Rocket, March 2018
Kenya-born entrepreneur Ceiphers Olweya brings “African Inspired, American Made” fashion to Phoenix. The dazzling patterns of East African Kitenge fabric brings pizzaz to everyday clothing, and Ceiphers’ philanthropy reaches causes in both his global homeland and our local community.
