Closing Ritual

Abstract

A crowd of about forty people gathered in Tucson’s Barrio Viejo to honor fifty-three migrants who died aboard a tractor-trailer on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas. The migrants were being smuggled into the United States in the scorching hot vehicle, left to die not only by their coyotes but also by the policy of Prevention through Deterrence. In this closing ritual, the vigil for these migrants and the ritual of repeating “presente” after each name inspire the listing of each person whose bodies and remains have been recovered since the author began fieldwork in 2019. The list is meant to be read aloud, an invitation to honor the migrant dead and to participate in their restless haunting. It is a summoning.