About Mario Alberto Macias Ayala

Mario Macías is a student of sociocultural anthropology at the UA. He obtained his degree in Anthropology from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico, and his master’s degree in Nationalism Studies at Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. Mario has worked closely with migrants and their communities at home in Mexico, and in some of their destinations in the United States, mainly New York and Los Angeles. His research focuses on the postponement of the return of Mexican migrants living in New York City after the Great Recession of 2007–2014 and the restricting of access to citizenship for Mexican migrants. This work builds upon his previous work by giving continuity to migrants previously interviewed and extending the analysis into the complex realm of household, gender relations, and the perpetuation of the Mexican “illegality” under the U.S. nation-state discourse. His current research interests are the dynamics of the Mexico–U.S. border, structural violence, medical anthropology, and public health access.

From "Introducing the 2018 Cohort of Incoming Grad Students"