Presented by Michelle Castañeda

Michelle Castañeda, assistant professor of performance studies at New York University and author of Disappearing Rooms: The Hidden Theaters of Immigration Law (Duke University Press, 2023), will read sections of the book and provide historical insights into the contemporary state of heightened immigration enforcement. Delving into issues of labor, the spectacle of exclusion, and the racial transposition of rightless states, Castañeda will lay out some of the legal infrastructures and performative practices that gave rise to the contemporary deportation regime. After providing examples of the scenographic method developed in Disappearing Rooms, Castañeda will lead participants in a broader conversation about experimental and interdisciplinary methods. How might we pursue an approach to research and writing that derives organically from our subject matter?