An Analysis of Narratives and Opportunities to Advance Graduate Public Health Curricula
Open Access DepositedMigrant Deaths at the US-Mexico Border
Background
Discursive strategies in policy speech are often used to reinforce existing power dynamics and to further entrench threat-based narratives about Latino immigrants. The reliance on data-driven, academic language in public health speech may be less compelling and approachable to laypersons, limiting the reach of those messages. This, combined with the relative lack of course content related to migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border in schools of public health present opportunities in public health research and education to develop course content introducing migrant deaths and the health-risks of migration to students, and to strengthen messaging in public health speech that counteracts more prevalent, threat-based narratives.
This dissertation addresses two complementary aims. First, to analyze the predominant narratives in public health and US federal policy surrounding immigration and Latino immigrants. Second, to analyze current graduate-level course content available in accredited schools of public health related to migrant deaths and the health risks associated with migration at the US-Mexico border. The first aim uses critical discourse analysis to examine how language impacts the positioning of immigrants in the prevailing discourse. The second aim analyzes course content on migrant deaths being provided by a sample of 17 schools of public health in the US. The primary variable of interest was whether content related to migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border was present. Results
Migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border are underrepresented in public health research, leading to an absence of corresponding intervention strategies to reduce mortality rates among this population. Public health researchers and schools of public health serve an important role in shaping narratives and defining which public health problems are included in their domain. Exposure to immigration-related content may increase the likelihood that students recognize migrant deaths as a public health issue and pursue work in this domain as they enter the workforce, applying their education to the development of these strategies.Aims and Methods
Aim 1 results demonstrate that policy discourse made use of a wider range of linguistic strategies, frequently designed to propagate negative attitudes about immigrants. Plain, direct speech was used to paint immigrants as a threat to Americans, positioning US citizens as victims and casting immigrants as villains in the narrative. Public health discourse, by comparison, relied ix heavily on data and scientific language to argue for a humanitarian approach to immigration and conceptualized immigrants as the victims in their narratives, while casting the immigration system in the role of villain. The results of Aim 2 suggest that course content on migrant deaths and the health risks associated with crossing the US-Mexico border is extremely limited. Available content was found only in elective courses and tended to focus broadly on the health of migrants and immigration policy. Students were less likely to encounter content that explicitly examines migrant deaths at the border as a public health issue. Conclusion
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RigglevanSchagen_gwu_0075A_17185.pdf | 2025-07-20 | Open Access |
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