Objectives
My research objectives include those articulated by the Binational Migration Institute:
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2. To produce and disseminate scientific data on how the implementation & enforcement of U.S. and Mexican immigration policies impact all Latinos in the U.S., particularly in terms of constitutional, civil, and human rights as well as public health;
3. To generate policy recommendations based on valid and reliable knowledge.
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Fundamental to the achieving of these goals is the sustained cultivation of interdisciplinary collaboration and the collaboration of binational institutions committed to furthering a reasoned, empirically informed discussion about policies affecting im/migrant groups within shared environments.
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PROJECTS
Women at the Intersection: Immigration Enforcement and Transnational Migration on the U.S.-Mexico Border (Principal Investigator).
Project Support: Fulbright Garcia-Robles Award
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Summary
In June of 2007 I completed this research project that sought to documented the encounters between U.S. immigration enforcement agents and female migrants. Interviews with over 100 women in a migrant shelter in the border city of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico focused on their experiences with apprehension and detention and my immediate goal is to develop this research into a book that will help draw a more accurate portrait of women caught in the intersection of diametrically opposed processes: immigration enforcement and transnational movement. This research is presently the first of its kind and I expect it will advance a number of public policy areas in immigration policy, human rights, and migrant women’s labor and reproductive rights. Additionally, this research strengthened collaborative efforts with researchers in the Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
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 In 2010, "No Roosters in the Desert", a theatrical play by Kara Hartzler was written based on the research for this project. Above is one of the posters, with actor Veronica Del Cerro playing the character of "Luisa" in the play. The play was performed in Tucson, Chicago, Mexico City, and Tempe, AZ.
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A Binational Study of Migrant Women in the Context of a U.S. Mexico Border Reproductive Health Care Continuum (Principal Investigator)
Project Support: Programa de Investigación de Migración y Salud (PIMSA)
Summary
In this binational project, the strategies that migrant women adopt are examined in light of their increased exposure to various types of risks associated with the migratory process including death and sexual assault, and the risks posed when access to reproductive health care services and resources in receiving communities (Altar, Sonora, and Tucson, Arizona) are limited or denied. The emergent concentration of migrants in Altar, Sonora (Mexico) has produced simultaneous growth and stress on services that support migrants. In comparison, on the U.S side of the border, there has been a curtailment of supportive services and resources for migrants largely driven by a highly politicized anti-immigrant sentiment and the enactment of anti-immigrant legislation, like Proposition 200 of 2004. The research will thus focus on the “reproductive health care continuum,” a concept developed for this research, which :” the repertoire of strategies, epistemologies, and practices adopted by women that begins with plans to migrate northward and evolves in the context of their settlement. The analysis of migrant women’s strategies in this way will illustrate how their access to reproductive health care resources and services problematizes broader contradictory trends delineated by migration and immigration enforcement and will inform policy makers and practitioners on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
For published results from this research (O'Leary & Sanchez, 2011; 2012), go to "Publications"
Methods Research Workshops: Instruments, Analysis, and Ethics (Co-Investigator)
Project Support: BORDERS, University of Arizona
Summary
This project will research the methods and instruments used in border research. Year I of the project organizes two workshops that stimulates an analysis of current research and methods that can be used to monitor issues related to complications arising from multidisciplinary research in a changing border environment. Papers generated from this analysis will inform Year II activities, which include a conference that will result in a publication of a volume of papers addressing questions about the appropriateness and limitations of methods and instruments used in border research, as well as ethical considerations. This body of work will help insure that future border research is in line with Institutional Review Board standards, provide a framework for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of research modalities in the context of this research, improve institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration, inform investigative decision-making, and improve cross-cultural awareness for gauging human responses in the field.
Dissertation Research
“Investment in Female Education as an Economic Strategy among U.S.-Mexican Households in Nogales, Arizona.”
Project Support: National Science Foundation
Summary
Much of my professional training began as graduate student at the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) at the University of Arizona. Here, I had the opportunity to teach my first course (Mexican American Culture—Anth/MAS 319) and to work on various applied anthropology research projects. My dissertation research focused on issues of gender and education among Mexican-heritage populations on the U.S.-Mexican border. It combined both qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand obstacles to education that women of Mexican origin face. Perhaps more importantly, I consider this research to be a personal response to the obstacles I encountered as a Latina in higher education. Three articles from this research have been published, one of which was (co-authored) with collaborators, Dr. Norma E. González (UA), who was on my dissertation committee, and fellow doctoral student—now Dr. Gloria Ciria Valdez-Gardea—who is a faculty member at the Colegio de Sonora, in Hermosillo. These articles can be accessed by by clicking on "Publications" tab above.
Other
· Challenges to Farm Worker Health 2006-2008
Project Support: National Institute of Health and NIOSH
2006-2008 BMI researchers teamed up with College of Public Health researchers on a project funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), “Challenges to Farm Worker Health,” to study the impact of migration and migrant farm labor on the health of migrant workers in Yuma, Arizona. Also participating in the study was a community-based organization dedicated to the promotion of immigrant/migrant rights, Derechos Humanos, in which I served as project director. These multidisciplinary partnerships have provided me valuable experiences needed to promote the importance of international exchange and participatory action research that involves binational stake-holder communities
· 2005 Project title: Revision of MAS 265, “Overview of Mexican-American Studies”
Project Support: University of Arizona Curriculum Improvement Award.
This award was used to redesign the format of the course, “Overview of Mexican American Studies” (MAS 265). I credit the workshops provided by the Teaching Teams Program at the University of Arizona for providing me with innovative ideas that I now implement and for helping me reflect on my teaching style and philosophy. With this guidance, the format of the course evolved from primarily teacher-centered to learner-centered. Consequently, I developed a collection of materials for the course that resulted in a textbook/workbook, Chicano Studies: The Discipline and the Journey (Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2007), which provides an intellectual framework for strengthening student civic engagement.