Narrative Worldviews of Central American Migration: A Multi-vantage Approach

The flashpoints of migration coming from the Northern Triangle (NT) of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras demonstrate the immense challenges facing the modern nation-state system. As the world's population becomes more mobile, digitally interconnected, and more capable of giving voice to the individual self, the structures of society and governance that catalyze, exacerbate, and fail to meet gross abuses and inequalities are increasingly laid bare. Plumbing such insights and voices, this research presents a larger picture of migration that forces the reimagination of common narratives and outlines how nation-states can more intentionally interact cooperatively to negate a growing crisis.

The perspectives offered in this work come from 40 interviews with migrants, law enforcement officers, journalists, filmmakers, policy experts, vocational workers, shelter workers, migration lawyers, missionaries, academics, and non-profits; people from the NT region, people from the US, people in the ivory tower and those who put their lives very much at risk on the ground. The work also examines 50,000+ news media articles from the US, Mexico, and the NT and over 50 policy briefs detailing challenges and possible solutions to mass irregular migration. The data collected cuts across political and economic borders in order to map out a comprehensive set of narratives addressing migration holistically. A unique aspect of the data is the inclusion of policy data in the analysis, which has its own distinct narrative vantage. It is our hope that the book informs better policies that help build more vibrancy and safety throughout the Americas.

Dr. Jared Johnson is an associate professor and interim director of the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. He holds a PhD from Georgia State University (2010). His research focuses on the intersection of technology and culture, with a particular focus on smaller or underrepresented cultures. He uses mixed-method approaches to study the ways people use technology and how that technology changes them. He has recently studied immigration challenges and vaccine acceptance among the immigrant Hispanic community. His work is published in journals focusing on communication and social media.

Dr. Skye Cooley is an assistant professor of strategic communications in the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. He is the co - founder of the MESA group ( https: //mesagroup.okstate.edu/ ) and has served as a lead investigator on several funded grants, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon - based Strategic Multilayer Assessment, Borders, Trade, and Immigration (BTI) Institute, and the Vaccine Confidence Fund (administered by the Globa l Impact). Dr. Cooley is also a certified HeartMath Institute Resilience Advantage Trainer and has experience leading physiological coherence training sessions. His work is widely published in academic and military intelligence communities.

Dr. Asya Cooley is an assistant professor of strategic communications at Oklahoma State University (OSU) School of Media and Strategic Communications (SMSC). She is a part of the Media Ecology and Strategic Analysis (MESA) Research Group addressing the ris ing need for strategic narrative assessment as a tool for promoting cooperative assistance and creating community power. She holds a doctoral degree in public policy and administration. Dr. Cooley conducted a number of research projects focusing on interna tional communications, nonprofit communications and healthcare communications. Prior to joining OSU, she served as a director of development at Mississippi State University Foundation.