ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors describe collaborative, activist ethnographic research between an anthropologist, undergraduate student, and two immigrant rights organizations to understand consequences of anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigrant policing practices. They argue for importance of politically engaged anthropology in responding to pressing social and political problems and describe how activist methodologies can result in more robust forms of data collection. The authors' broad, shared political goal is to advance immigrants’ rights, and in this project, they aim to document the lived experiences of immigration policy on Latinx immigrants living in Central Florida. The Farmworker Association of Florida engages in few collaborative relationships for impact litigation, providing basic health services to farmworkers. The authors show how relationships created as part of activist anthropological research process can directly inform research processes and improve empirical insights. The chapter argues that activist arrangements can provide more robust forms of data collection and result in useful deliverables for community-based organizations.
