About Jason

Jason De León is Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Loyd E. Cotsen Endowed Chair of Archaeology, Professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

De León is Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP) Inc. a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective that seeks to raise awareness about migration issues globally.

Since 2009, the UMP has been studying clandestine migration between Latin America and the United States using a combination of ethnographic, visual, archaeological, and forensic approaches to understand this violent social process. De León has published numerous academic articles and his work with the UMP has been featured in a variety of popular media outlets. For more information on this research go here.

He is the author of two award winning books: “The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail” (featuring photos by Michael Wells) and “Soldiers and Kings.” Soldiers and Kings won the 2024 National Book Award for Nonfiction. De León is 2017 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

De León is on the Academic Board for the Institute for Field Research, a nonprofit organization operating over 42 field schools in 25 countries across the globe. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA, Jason taught in the anthropology department at the University of Michigan between 2010 and 2019. He was a lecturer at the University of Washington between 2008 and 2010. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Penn State University in 2008 and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology at UCLA in 2001. As an undergraduate at UCLA he gained his first experience conducting research in the Central Mexican state of Tlaxcala.  His dissertation research focused on the development of early political economy and stone tool production among the ancient Olmec of Mesoamerica.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Jason is an active musician who sang and played guitar with the Long Beach based hardcore-punk-reggae band Youth in Asia in the mid to late 1990’s and the Americana band The Wilcox Hotel based out of State College, PA between 2005 and 2008. He currently plays bass in The War Pigs and is involved in various musical projects including periodic reunions with The Wilcox Hotel.