In the Shadow of the Beast: Violence and Dignity along the Central American Migrant Trail by John Doering-White A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work and Anthropology) in the University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Jason De León, Co-chair Professor Laura Lein, Co-Chair Professor Jorge Delva, Boston University Assistant Professor Reuben Miller, University of Chicago Professor Andrew Shryock John Doering-White
[email protected] ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8484-1082 ã John Doering-White 2019 DEDICATION For Emily ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Above all, I thank the many people whose stories fill these pages, including los soldadores ciegos, el equipo chido, los que toman su leche, los cocodrilos, and los de mucho party. Most of you remain unnamed. I hope you know how grateful I am to have worked alongside you, to have been granted the honor of listening to your stories, and the responsibility to share them faithfully. Fieldwork for this project was supported by generous funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, The Fulbright García-Robles Fellowship Program, the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and the University of Michigan School of Social Work. I have been blessed with an unimaginably supportive dissertation committee. Thank you to Jason De León for teaching me a different side of antropología and the curative powers of caldo de camarón, for welcoming me into the UMP family, for your meticulous feedback, and for showing me what unapologetically