Milena A Melo
Milena A. Melo is an Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology with a specialty in Medical Anthropology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is developing research programs in the borderlands of South Texas and Northern Mexico. Motivated by her own experience as a DACA recipient and undocumented immigrant, Dr. Melo is committed to conducting research that reduces barriers to healthcare, confronts social inequality, and combats the disenfranchisement faced by marginalized populations in the United States. Dr. Melo’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the American Anthropological Association, and the School for Advanced Research.
Dr. Melo’s research focuses on the experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants accessing healthcare, specifically dialysis for end-stage renal disease caused by diabetes and hypertension. She has also been involved in research focusing on the experiences of mixed-status families and DACA in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. She has conducted research with the undocumented immigrant community of South Texas where she grew up. Her future plans are to conduct binational research comparing the illness experiences of undocumented Mexicans in the United States and underinsured chronically ill Mexicans living in Mexico.
Dr. Melo is currently accepting graduate students interested in medical anthropology, healthcare inequalities, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, citizenship, immigration, and public policy. Regional interest is open, but students with a desire to conduct fieldwork in the U.S. or Mexico are preferred.
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Political and Legal Anthropology, Immigration, Undocumented Migration, Citizenship, Illegality, DACA/Undocumented Youth, Mixed-Status Families, Migrant Health, Healthcare Disparities and Inequalities, Healthcare Policy, Diabetes and Dialysis, Specialty/End-of-Life Care, Mexico, South Texas, U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Dr. Melo’s research focuses on the experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants accessing healthcare, specifically dialysis for end-stage renal disease caused by diabetes and hypertension. She has also been involved in research focusing on the experiences of mixed-status families and DACA in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. She has conducted research with the undocumented immigrant community of South Texas where she grew up. Her future plans are to conduct binational research comparing the illness experiences of undocumented Mexicans in the United States and underinsured chronically ill Mexicans living in Mexico.
Dr. Melo is currently accepting graduate students interested in medical anthropology, healthcare inequalities, the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, citizenship, immigration, and public policy. Regional interest is open, but students with a desire to conduct fieldwork in the U.S. or Mexico are preferred.
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Political and Legal Anthropology, Immigration, Undocumented Migration, Citizenship, Illegality, DACA/Undocumented Youth, Mixed-Status Families, Migrant Health, Healthcare Disparities and Inequalities, Healthcare Policy, Diabetes and Dialysis, Specialty/End-of-Life Care, Mexico, South Texas, U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
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Papers by Milena A Melo
conditions. In this dissertation, I examine the treatment experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants who suffer from end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in South Texas. Utilizing over two years of fieldwork including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and case studies with 42 healthcare professionals and 100 Mexican-born dialysis patients (50 undocumented and 50 documented), I employ dialysis as an extreme case study demonstrating the detrimental and fatal consequences that occur when access to care is restricted or denied based on citizenship and legal immigration status.
I trace how undocumented immigrants with ESRD navigate the U.S. healthcare system which seeks to elude them in all but immediate, life-threatening emergencies, leaving them with only one viable option: to become a patient at risk of dying in order to maintain life. I document the ripple effects of exclusion experienced by family members and the healthcare professionals who serve these patients as they must negotiate their role and commitment to their employers, hospital regulations, and the Hippocratic Oath. In dialogue with anthropological work on Foucauldian biopolitics and Agamben‘s ―bare life,‖ with a particular focus on agency, this dissertation contributes theoretically to cultural and medical anthropology by analyzing how categories of exclusion in policy affect immigrant subjects in ways that produce or prolong social and/or physical suffering.
containing varied combinations of citizens, permanent legal residents, undocumented
immigrants, and individuals in legal limbo. These families offer an opportunity
to examine the functioning of the contemporary state and its penetration at the
household level. For many Latino youth, experiences are framed not only by their
own but other family members’ legal status. This article reports on health care seeking
experiences of mixed-status families in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas
and the impact of the recent health care reform (Affordable Care Act). We utilized
qualitative ethnographic methods including 55 semistructured interviews with mixedstatus
families and 43 interviews with health care providers, caseworkers, and public
health officials. Results indicate that changes accompanying the reform directly and
indirectly affect mixed-status households’ ability to access care. We describe strategies
in times of illness, including those unique to border communities. We conclude that,
for successful implementation of policies associated with health care reform, broader
issues related to immigration status must be addressed, especially anxieties regarding
future chances of regularization. These uniquely affect mixed-status families, create a
ripple effect on all household members, and result in unintended consequences for
U.S. citizen children. Implications point to the need for a pathway to citizenship for
parents as a basic step in improving well-being of children.
Books by Milena A Melo
Book Reviews by Milena A Melo
Articles by Milena A Melo
conditions. In this dissertation, I examine the treatment experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants who suffer from end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in South Texas. Utilizing over two years of fieldwork including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and case studies with 42 healthcare professionals and 100 Mexican-born dialysis patients (50 undocumented and 50 documented), I employ dialysis as an extreme case study demonstrating the detrimental and fatal consequences that occur when access to care is restricted or denied based on citizenship and legal immigration status.
I trace how undocumented immigrants with ESRD navigate the U.S. healthcare system which seeks to elude them in all but immediate, life-threatening emergencies, leaving them with only one viable option: to become a patient at risk of dying in order to maintain life. I document the ripple effects of exclusion experienced by family members and the healthcare professionals who serve these patients as they must negotiate their role and commitment to their employers, hospital regulations, and the Hippocratic Oath. In dialogue with anthropological work on Foucauldian biopolitics and Agamben‘s ―bare life,‖ with a particular focus on agency, this dissertation contributes theoretically to cultural and medical anthropology by analyzing how categories of exclusion in policy affect immigrant subjects in ways that produce or prolong social and/or physical suffering.
containing varied combinations of citizens, permanent legal residents, undocumented
immigrants, and individuals in legal limbo. These families offer an opportunity
to examine the functioning of the contemporary state and its penetration at the
household level. For many Latino youth, experiences are framed not only by their
own but other family members’ legal status. This article reports on health care seeking
experiences of mixed-status families in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas
and the impact of the recent health care reform (Affordable Care Act). We utilized
qualitative ethnographic methods including 55 semistructured interviews with mixedstatus
families and 43 interviews with health care providers, caseworkers, and public
health officials. Results indicate that changes accompanying the reform directly and
indirectly affect mixed-status households’ ability to access care. We describe strategies
in times of illness, including those unique to border communities. We conclude that,
for successful implementation of policies associated with health care reform, broader
issues related to immigration status must be addressed, especially anxieties regarding
future chances of regularization. These uniquely affect mixed-status families, create a
ripple effect on all household members, and result in unintended consequences for
U.S. citizen children. Implications point to the need for a pathway to citizenship for
parents as a basic step in improving well-being of children.