The narrow Darién Gap, the only land bridge connecting South and Central America, encompasses a spectacularly hostile jungle, covered in steep mountains, dense rainforests, and flood-prone marshes. Known in Spanish as el infierno verde, or “the green hell,” it is one of the most inhospitable places in the world. Its terrain is too treacherous for roads, yet hundreds of thousands of refuge seekers contend with its horrors every year in the hopes of reaching the United States, still some three thousand miles away. And of the countless who set out for the border, an untold number never arrive.
 
In this book, journalist Belén Fernández travels through the Darién Gap to report on the dehumanizing and deadly stretch of land that has become a mass graveyard for migrants. Fernández’s journey brings her into contact with refuge seekers, people smugglers, law enforcement officials, and many more whose stories bring life to a place overwhelmingly associated with death. Combining history, on-the-ground reporting, travelogue, memoir, and searing politico-economic analysis, she shines light on a largely made-in-the-USA crisis that has come to define our modern era.
 
Engrossing and heartrending, The Darién Gap is a poignant and compassionate indictment of structural inequality and institutionalized inhumanity in a world where the have-nots must risk death for a chance at a better life—or any life at all.

Delegating Responsibility explores the politics of migration in the European Union and explains how the EU responded to the 2015–17 refugee crisis. Based on 86 interviews and fieldwork in Greece and Italy, Nicholas R. Micinski proposes a new theory of international cooperation on international migration. States approach migration policies in many ways—such as coordination, collaboration, subcontracting, and unilateralism—but which policy they choose is based on capacity and on credible partners on the ground. Micinski traces the fifty-year evolution of EU migration management, like border security and asylum policies, and shows how EU officials used “crises” as political leverage to further Europeanize migration governance. In two in-depth case studies, he explains how Italy and Greece responded to the most recent refugee crisis. He concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations regarding contemporary as well as long-term aspirations for migration management in the EU.

The Deoliwallahs sheds light on a lesser-known chapter of Indian history—the internment of Chinese Indians following the 1962 Sino-Indian War. During the war, around 3,000 Indians of Chinese descent were detained in a camp in Deoli, Rajasthan, under suspicion of espionage. Many of these individuals had deep roots in India, with families that had lived there for generations. The book recounts their harrowing experiences, including abrupt arrests, harsh conditions in the camp, and the emotional toll of being ostracized by their own country.

Alternating between historical context and the personal stories of survivors, authors Joy Ma and Dilip D'Souza weave together a compelling and emotional account of a nearly forgotten community of people interned against their will. The book draws parallels with other instances of internment, such as the Japanese American experience during World War II, highlighting the universal themes of identity, citizenship, and the consequences of fear-driven policies.

A documentary, Voices of Deoli (2025), directed by Lulu Men with author Joy Ma serving as executive producer, along with Michael Cheng and Neela D’Souza, also shares the stories of survivors and, like the book, serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of rights and the impact of prejudice.
 

Dominic Ongwen was abducted by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army while walking to school at the age of nine. He later rose through its ranks committing, and ultimately being convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of, many of the same crimes of which he was once a victim. The Dilemma of Dominic Ongwen tells this extraordinary story through the voices of those who knew him best: family members, fighters, commanders, “wives,” victims, and trial participants. Their testimonies, gathered in Uganda and The Hague, form the backbone of a narrative that interlaces survivor accounts with legal analysis and vivid excerpts from the ICC trial. The book offers a rare, human-centered lens on international justice, illuminating the dilemmas of prosecuting a former child soldier for mass atrocities. It provides indispensable insights for scholars of international criminal law, transitional justice, political violence, trauma, and human rights. 

When millions of Syrians fled civil war after 2011, international donors and humanitarian organizations mobilized to provide assistance to neighboring countries. Focusing on Jordan—one of the world’s largest refugee hosting states—Disease and Diplomacy investigates how medical aid to refugees operates as an instrument of diplomacy and control within the global refugee system. It argues that health, far from being an apolitical humanitarian good, is a bargaining tool that states commodify to extract resources and concessions.

Drawing on years of field research, interviews, and policy analysis, the book shows how the Jordanian government, international donors, and humanitarian agencies turned healthcare for refugees into a tool for negotiating power, resources, and responsibility. In these cases, refugees, caught within these negotiations, often found their access to care determined not by medical need, but by political calculation. Developing the concept of the weaponization of medical aid, the book extends theories of migration diplomacy and refugee rentierism to show how global power dynamics shape who receives healthcare. The analysis identifies a self-reinforcing “crisis loop” that privileges short-term, highly visible responses while neglecting chronic and long-term needs. Disease and Diplomacy advances an interdisciplinary framework for understanding how humanitarian practices reinforce global inequalities and argues for more equitable approaches to refugee health and responsibility-sharing in the international system.

Dissident Genders and Sexualities in the Andes: Truth, Justice, and Reparations reveals how people of non-normative genders and sexualities fight for truth, justice, and reparations in the aftermath of armed conflict and authoritarian regimes in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. A focus on body politics flips the transitional justice model that focuses on nation-states to investigate massive human rights violations. How and why are harms against people of non-normative genders and sexualities included or excluded in Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Colombian transitional justice efforts? What strategies do activists use in the ongoing struggle for the recognition of their humanity through truth, justice and reparations? To answer these questions, Dissident Genders and Sexualities in the Andes focuses on activists and their embodied knowledge.