Presidential Scholar Talk Sees Full Red Room

On Tuesday, National Book Award winner, Presidential Scholar, and anthropologist Jason De León discussed his 2024 book “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling” with Assistant Professor of Religion Lloyd Barba. In front of a packed Cole Assembly Room — with students on the floor and, briefly, a dog in the audience — De León spoke about portraying human smugglers, ethical ethnography, and how his research affects him personally.

He hoped that through his careful participant observation, where he shadowed human smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border for all parts of their day except for when they were actively smuggling migrants, people would gain a more nuanced understanding of them. “This isn’t a book to humanize smugglers,” he said. “This is a book that says smugglers are, in fact, human, and we need to understand that.”

De León also noted that “Soldiers and Kings” is about more than human smugglers. He put smuggling in the book title in part because that is the focus, but he also knew that including the “salacious” word would get people to purchase the book and learn about what the book was really about: “capitalism, climate change, violence, racism, a million other kinds of things.”

He has generally received little pushback on his work, but he mentioned how some anthropologists have told him that they were uncomfortable with the idea of feeling empathetic towards human smugglers, many of whom have committed acts of violence. 

“I said, ‘It’s okay to have complicated feelings about the world,’” De León remarked, causing the audience to laugh. “I think we need more of these types of studies to understand these things — instead of just demonizing them or making these kinds of caricatures that don’t allow us to get at the root problems at work that are actually happening.”

As a child, De León moved around a lot, and he had to learn how to make friends easily while managing his social anxiety. As a result, although he “has very few job skills,” ethnographic research comes naturally because his “superpower is hanging out.”

While that “hanging out,” or participant observation, helped De León with his research, it also helped him navigate his own traumas. He struggled at first to figure out why he was so drawn to them, beyond his academic interests, and then he realized that “we were all survivors of childhood sexual assault, but nobody could talk about it, and it took me seven years to get to the end of the book and go, ‘Oh God, I’m not okay at all. And these guys aren’t okay.’” 

De León said that he was a very optimistic person but “profoundly sad” at his core, and has struggled with depression and suicidal ideation his entire life. Ethnography and being with others have been an antidote to many of his mental health struggles. “I have found so much joy and fulfillment in doing this type of work, even when it breaks my heart, even when it makes me sad,” De León said. “Being … in community and conversation with strangers — that, to me, is the best form of therapy.”

Looking forward, De León anticipated his next book project would tackle toxic masculinity or the patriarchy in some way. “It’s killing men, and it’s killing everyone around those men,” he said. While De León used to want to pursue anthropological work to explore his intellectual questions, at this point in his career, he wants his research to focus on building empathy; he hopes his next project can be a part of that.

“I want more empathy and kindness in the world,” De León said. “I have two small kids at home. I get up in the morning, and I believe we’re going to make a good [impact]. And I firmly believe that anthropology can be a way to do that.”