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Charles D. Thompson, Jr.

Teacher. Author. Filmmaker. Photographer.

  • Articles
  • Films
    • Rock Castle Home
    • Border Crossing 101
    • Faces of Time | Los Rostros del Tiempo
    • Homeplace Under Fire
    • Brother Towns | Pueblos Hermanos
    • Plate Tectonics
    • We Shall Not Be Moved
    • The Guestworker
  • Books
    • Going Over Home
    • Border Odyssey
    • Spirits of Just Men
    • The Old German Baptist Brethren
    • Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations
    • The Human Cost of Food
    • Maya Identities and the Violence of Place
  • Teaching
    • Plate Tectonics
  • Projects
    • Pilgrimage to America’s Sacred Spaces (PASS)
  • Bio
  • Contact

Search Charles D. Thompson

Sep 07 2015

They Might Not Be People, But We Sure Need Them

An article in the New York Times (9/4/15, “Iowans Question GOP Talk on Illegal Immigration“) quotes Chuck Coghill, who runs a sign company in the rural town of Blue Grass with his wife, Michelle: “It’s a bad thing that all these illegal Mexicans are here.” He paused. “But they’re hard workers. They’re doing jobs that lazy […]

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Aug 26 2015

Willie Nelson & Me

While interviewing Willie Nelson for a FarmAid project I’m working on with Brooke Shuman (pictured) and Chris Fowler (who took this photo on left), I was able to give him a copy of Border Odyssey (see table). Then we began talking about how horrible it is that Latino immigrants have been vilified so much, including […]

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Aug 15 2015

US/Mexico border crossing by raft

Mr. Trump, Were Your Ancestors Ever the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?

  I search the photo of these desperately poor people I photographed in the summer of 2015 at the Suchiate River at the border between Guatemala and Mexico. None of them, from any outward appearance at least, seemed to be rapists or murderers. None of them seemed to be trying to steal jobs or anything […]

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Aug 06 2015

Most Diverse Battle Site Ever on U.S. Soil

Prof. Antonio Zavaleta sent this photograph of himself with his grandson. They dressed as Union soldiers reenacting the Battle of Palmito Hill Ranch near Boca Chica in Texas. This was the 150th anniversary of the Last Battle of the Civil War fought there on May 12th, 1865. Professor Zavaleta and his historic ranch feature in […]

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Jun 23 2015

WUNC: Border Odyssey

Originally published in WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio

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The border that separates the United States from Mexico stretches across four states and spans almost 2,000 miles, but the issues that arise from this separation travel an even greater distance. Immigration touches on the economic, social and political fabric of all 50 states. Host Frank Stasio talks with Duke professor of the practice of […]

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Originally published in WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio

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Jun 20 2015

Duke professor’s book turns anthropologist’s eye on border issues

Originally published in Raleigh News & Observer

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There are few roads that parallel the U.S./Mexican border for very long. Interstates tend to veer away, and those wishing to follow the 1,969-mile boundary must often risk axle-destroying four-wheel-drive roads that cut through the Southwestern plains. Yet Charles Thompson took those roads, rattling along heavily rutted trails, fingers crossed that his rented Chevy Cruze […]

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Originally published in Raleigh News & Observer

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Jun 04 2015

When the Border Crossed Me

Originally published in Southern Spaces

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My border odyssey began in 1985 on a farm near Pittsboro, North Carolina. On a hot summer afternoon I walked out of my farm field to meet five men from Mexico. They drove into my driveway in an old beat up blue Impala, got out in the bloodied knee-length white coats and black rubber boots […]

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Originally published in Southern Spaces

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Apr 30 2015

Border Odyssey: Meeting the People Patrolling and Living Near the U.S.-Mexico Border

Originally published in Houston Public Media

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In 2010, Duke University professor Charles Thompson followed the U.S.-Mexico border, which spans nearly two-thousand miles. They followed a path from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean, exploring small towns and larger communities on both sides of the border. Thompson spoke with residents living within these border communities to get a better understanding […]

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Originally published in Houston Public Media

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Apr 14 2015

Making Whiskey in the Backcountry

Originally published in Southern Spaces

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Whiskey making, while rare in southern England, was highly developed in both Scotland and Ireland by the time of the Ulster emigration. We can credit the Ulster immigrants for helping introduce the tradition to America. Through their influence, whiskey making became commonplace everywhere in the new colony, particularly on the frontier. Frenchman Marquis de Chastelleaux […]

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Originally published in Southern Spaces

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Apr 14 2015

Visions for Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba and the United States: Changing Minds and Models through Exchange

Originally published in Southern Spaces

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In this photo essay and accompanying text, Charles D. Thompson, Jr. meets Cuban farmers, explores sustainable agricultural initiatives in the island nation, and suggests the possibilities for mutually beneficial exchanges with farmers’ organizations in the US South.

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Originally published in Southern Spaces

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