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Start your review of Fresh Fruit, Cleaved Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States

May 27, 2013 Jessaka rated information technology it was amazing

This has been a discipline that has been of involvement to me in recent years, peculiarly since reading online about the horrors that Hispanics get through in the fields. I have even read a few other books on this subject, simply no book has really gone into it as deeply equally this one or at least none that I just read.

Seth Holmes is an anthropologist who is too studying to become a medical doc, if he hasn't gotten his degree by now. He went downwardly to Oaxaca and then crossed the border with the Mexicans i

This has been a subject field that has been of interest to me in recent years, especially since reading online about the horrors that Hispanics go through in the fields. I have even read a few other books on this subject, but no book has actually gone into it as deeply as this i or at least none that I just read.

Seth Holmes is an anthropologist who is likewise studying to become a medical doc, if he hasn't gotten his degree by now. He went down to Oaxaca and then crossed the edge with the Mexicans into the U.s., where he was arrested and then released. He then went to work in the fields with the migrant workers, interviewed them, their doctors and their bosses.

Information technology is a law-breaking what big corporations and our government do past making it impossible for farmers to increase their wages or improve their living conditions. If they do, it would cause the farmer to go bankrupt. And even so many farmers would like to help their workers. As I am typing this, I realize that perhaps a farmer tin can't afford to pay the white man to piece of work in his fields.

If anyone wants to know what it takes to put nutrient on our tables and what Mexicans go through while here, and why they must come to America, I would advise this volume. If I were young I would want to get an activist but all I can practice is write poetry on it that no one will encounter and so tell others what is happening.

I am calculation a poem to this that I had written soon after writing my review. The 2d stanza role about the sleeping bags is what I saw when living in Del Mar, CA where the Mexicans piece of work for the fairgrounds during the horse races:

GRINGO, DO YOU REALLY WANT MY Job?

i piece of work seventeen 60 minutes days
on u. s. soil—
a dollar an hour
at a fairgrounds, one,
maybe, nigh you lot.

i sleep in a flea and bedbug infested
bag down past the river
and defecate in bushes
by the same river that gently
flows into your ocean
where you get swimming
In the summer and
play Frisbee with your dog.

are you lot sure you lot nevertheless desire my task?

i am fed one meal a day
and suffer from dehydration
but you americans always cry
that we are taking your jobs abroad.
while i
just desire more than than one meal,
bottled water,
and some residual.

i am a subcontract worker—
my nose bleeds, i vomit,
and my skin breaks out
in a rash—
my hands and then swollen
it is hard to touch the fruit
that i must pick
to put food on your tabular array.

The md claimed
it is merely the flu,
but i knew,
it was from your love
fungicides,
and pesticides
that you spray on crops
just to keep food on your table.

is my life worth only that much?

my years are not
long in these fields
my body grows weak,
my back hurts
eye aged,
I get back to mexico
or south america.
unemployable.

just i needed the money
more than y'all, gringo
or you would accept my job.

Written by Jessica Slade

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Jul 15, 2013 sdw rated it it was amazing

This ethnographic study of indigenous Mexican migrant farm workers in Washington state exposes the structural and symbolic violence such workers face. Holmes carefully enumerates the ways that the racialized hierarchies of agricultural labor are naturalized. The author is a medical anthropologist and as such reveals a particular concern with public health issues.

The book starts with an incredibly compelling outset person narrative of the author crossing the border with his undocumented subjects.

This ethnographic study of indigenous Mexican migrant farm workers in Washington state exposes the structural and symbolic violence such workers face. Holmes carefully enumerates the means that the racialized hierarchies of agricultural labor are naturalized. The author is a medical anthropologist and as such reveals a item concern with public health problems.

The book starts with an incredibly compelling first person narrative of the writer crossing the border with his undocumented subjects. In this introduction, the author does a great job dealing with the always-present question in anthropology of positionality.

This would be a slap-up volume to teach undergraduates. The bulk of the book is very readable and the author goes to pains to explains the terms he uses.

"The United Nations Population Division estimates conservatively that at that place are 175 million migrants in the globe . . .In the United States, researchers judge that at that place are over 290 million residents, including 36 1000000 immigrants, approximately 5 million to 10 meg of whom are unauthorized. In add-on, it is estimated that approximately 95 per centum of agricultural workers in the U.s.a. were built-in in Mexico, 52 percent of them unauthorized."

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Jan 21, 2015 Dragos rated it liked it

In Fresh Fruit, Cleaved Bodies Seth G. Holmes uses his extensive fieldwork amid the Triqui people to pigment us a rather depressing picture of the US agronomical sector and US border policy in general. Trained equally both an MD and an anthropologist Holmes gives us a dual perspective that blends medical positivism with the anthropological knack for data interpretation and ferreting out subconscious ties and patterns.

The volume is at its best when Holmes is narrating. The man seems destined for a career as

In Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies Seth M. Holmes uses his all-encompassing fieldwork amidst the Triqui people to paint u.s. a rather depressing flick of the U.s.a. agricultural sector and US border policy in general. Trained as both an MD and an anthropologist Holmes gives united states a dual perspective that blends medical positivism with the anthropological knack for information interpretation and ferreting out subconscious ties and patterns.

The book is at its best when Holmes is narrating. The man seems destined for a career as an ethnographer. He situates himself not as a 'fly on the wall' observer just as an active participant taking role (sporadically) in the gruelling labour, his informants he refers to as his 'friends'. Holmes has a potent ethnographic voice, an middle for detail and knows only how to present a vignette to make information technology both interesting to an audition consisting of non-anthropologists and to tie it to larger themes of structural violence and global income and opportunity inequality. And that'south where the issues offset.

While he paints a stunning, captivating picture of the US Borderlands, Mexican highlands and rural Washington Holmes' analysis is a bit sophomoric. He constructs a flimsy structure for analysis based on 'the usual suspects': Bourdieu, Wacquant, Bourgois, with a few forays into philosophy through Gramsci and Levinas. While it is true that the assay is aimed at a wider audience rather than, say, people such every bit ourselves who captivate endlessly over theoretical frameworks the scope of it requires a more judicious use of theory to back up some of the more extraordinary claims. Otherwise $.25 like Holmes' analysis of three instance studies, all suffering from various illnesses related to their labour and the migration process, falls apartment. The structural explanations that he builds between these bodily afflictions and large-scale structural issues in the market economic system and the persecution of migration, come out as stylistic flourishes rather than serious analysis.

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies does however raise some very interesting points. The multi-level analysis of the fruit merchandise gives united states a cantankerous picture of how different levels of inequality build up from the superlative downwardly. Nobody is left unaffected past the structural pressures of the neoliberal status-quo: executives worry most market pressures and business survivability, crop managers worry nigh that and also crop minutiae, coiffure bosses as well about making quotas and so forth down to the bottom level of the pickers who worry about everything for the lowest amount of pay, with bad housing and next to no job security.

Perhaps the most important thing to come up out of the volume is something that is by no ways revolutionary just that yet has to exist said, particularly to a not-academic audience: the tightening of edge regimes is discriminatory, unsafe and above all counter-productive. To drum upwards political back up politicians support the tightening of border regimes and thus the professionalization of people smuggling networks. People smuggling has become a lucrative business organisation opportunity for coyotes and the loftier costs associated with border crossings accept led to more permanent irregular migration, rather than less.

I has to recall back to the posters described past Seth Holmes in the border town of Totem that asked Is it worth risking your life? With the tightening of border regimes and the persecution and disenfranchisment of a vital part of the American labour force the answer is articulate. It is, but perhaps but one manner. The seasonal migrant is caught in a trap. He or she needs to work and at that place is plenty of work available but no rights come with his/her status as a labourer. The 'illegal' migrant is stripped of his humanity and with information technology, his man rights. He is a auto and a machine has no rights, a car doesn't get sick or earn overtime pay. A machine does its job and is replaced when it breaks down.

Weak in its analytical and theoretical framework Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies is nonetheless a captivating ethnographic read that gives us a circuitous pic of the exploitation apparatus built around the modern 'illegalized' migrant as well as the devastating health effects that it has on individuals.

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Those of usa who eat fruit need to read this book. Those of united states of america who have driven by strawberry fields without request ourselves about what it's like to pick strawberries all solar day need to read it. Those of us who wonder why migrant workers take chances their lives to live in crowded, squalid housing, work at backbreaking jobs, and die early of preventable diseases need to read it. Seth Holmes, anthropologist and Doctor, spent months living and working with the poorest class of Mexican migrant workers from souther Those of u.s. who eat fruit need to read this book. Those of us who have driven by strawberry fields without asking ourselves near what it'due south like to pick strawberries all day need to read information technology. Those of us who wonder why migrant workers risk their lives to live in crowded, squalid housing, work at backbreaking jobs, and die early of preventable diseases need to read it. Seth Holmes, anthropologist and MD, spent months living and working with the poorest class of Mexican migrant workers from southern Mexico to try to understand their plight not in terms of personal choices individuals make, merely in terms of the social and economic structures that normalize a very real kind of violence to the poor and dispossessed. The book is not only readable but compelling, though it is besides scrupulously scholarly. Holmes writes with lively compassion for those whose lives he documents. The book left me with renewed resolve to support those who are challenging the profound inequities built into the food production and healthcare systems we inhabit. And to enquire more questions. And to swallow the berries on my oatmeal with deepened respect and gratitude, and a mensurate of indignation on behalf of those who selection them only can't afford to eat them. ...more

Aug 07, 2014 Alan rated it really liked it

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to acquire more than about the situation of the ~1.5 1000000 undocumented farmworkers in the US. The nigh compelling parts were those in which he talked virtually the interaction of the farmworkers with the medical arrangement. No surprise: the healthcare providers plough out to be clueless and complicit, even the best-intentioned among them. Information technology's in these sections that he manages to describe on his training as a doctor and an anthropologist to develop (what seems to I strongly recommend this volume to anyone who wants to learn more well-nigh the situation of the ~1.5 million undocumented farmworkers in the US. The nigh compelling parts were those in which he talked nearly the interaction of the farmworkers with the medical system. No surprise: the healthcare providers turn out to exist clueless and complicit, even the all-time-intentioned among them. It's in these sections that he manages to draw on his grooming as a md and an anthropologist to develop (what seems to me) a truly new perspective on the part of medical practitioners in challenging oppression.

Shortly after get-go this volume, I realized that Seth Holmes's role is down the hall from where I've just begun medical school! I'm looking forward to learning more than about his ongoing projects - peculiarly one (together with an older pupil in my program) virtually training residents in "structural competency" (http://structuralcompetency.org/) and measuring the bear on of this training on their practices down the line.

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February nineteen, 2016 Seth Rumbley rated it it was amazing

Issues surrounding undocumented migration to the United states have been the subjects of heated debate in the American political organization for decades. Every bit Seth Holmes explains, however, there is a sense of irony in the fact that policymakers often contribute to the structures that perpetuate undocumented labor migration and legitimize the resulting social inequalities. These inequalities and the embodied suffering that coincide become normalized, Holmes argues, oft remaining unnoticed by those at Problems surrounding undocumented migration to the United States take been the subjects of heated debate in the American political system for decades. As Seth Holmes explains, however, there is a sense of irony in the fact that policymakers oft contribute to the structures that perpetuate undocumented labor migration and legitimize the resulting social inequalities. These inequalities and the embodied suffering that coincide become normalized, Holmes argues, ofttimes remaining unnoticed by those at all levels of the social hierarchy. At other times, the oppressed are blamed for their own suffering.
As both a physician and an anthropologist, Holmes is invested in agreement the health outcomes that result from political and economic social structures and how these outcomes are normalized. In this disquisitional ethnography, he does and so by conducting extensive fieldwork amidst the Triqui, an ethnic group from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, every bit they migrate to the Us to piece of work in agricultural fields.
His research pairs Eric Wolf's theory of political economy with the concept of symbolic violence introduced by Pierre Bourdieu. He notes the impact of international policy on labor migration, citing the implementation of the Due north American Gratis Trade Understanding (NAFTA) every bit a source of economical hardship for Mexico'southward ethnic corn producers, many of whom were afterward forced to migrate in lodge to provide for their families. As Holmes' observations reveal, Triqui migrant workers experience numerous forms of violence and domination that go socially justified through symbolic interpretations of their bodies. These notions regarding bodies are described by pairing Bourdieu'south ideas of doxa and habitus. The normalization and structural support of these social perceptions establish symbolic violence, which Holmes explains as "the interrelations of social structures of inequalities and perceptions" (p. 44).
Holmes' volume is organized into a foreword and seven chapters. The foreword, written by Philippe Bourgois, speaks to timeliness of Holmes' work. Most of the following capacity are cleverly titled using quotes obtained in the field that are relevant to that chapter's content. In affiliate one, "Introduction: 'Worth Risking Your Life?,'" Holmes provides a background to his research, which is intermingled with sections of ethnographic narrative detailing his initial encounters and subsequent journey across the border with the Triqui. His 2nd chapter provides a holistic definition of the body and argues for the inclusion of the anthropologist'southward perspective in inquiry on body politics. During his fieldwork, Holmes relied heavily on participant observation in order to ascertain the effects that structural, symbolic violence has on the bodies of migrant farmworkers. Understanding the embodiment of migrant suffering through personal experience not only served to build rapport with his research subjects, but also provided ethnographic richness to his narrative, as he was able to observe the suffering caused by structural violence.
Chapter iii details the hierarchical nature of agronomical work in the The states and how placement of individuals in this hierarchy establishes "ethnicity" every bit a social definition related to economical and social power. Holmes presents a conceptual diagram of this bureaucracy, depicting the relationship between ethnicity and social power and incorporating linguistic communication, citizenship, and blazon of labor performed into this structure (p. 85). Their placement at the bottom of this hierarchy has health consequences for the Triqui, which Holmes expounds upon in chapter 4. He documents the experiences of migrant farmworkers, showcasing sickness and hurting as an apotheosis of symbolic violence rooted in institutionalized racism. This social structure extends beyond the boundaries of the agronomical workplace, however, as medical professionals frequently blame the Triqui for their own suffering—the topic of chapter 5. Affiliate six builds on the previous sections, describing the ways in which hierarchical power relations, symbolic violence, and health consequences become normalized social conditions by all members in a social hierarchy—including those most disenfranchised.
In his conclusion Holmes offers a critique of the American healthcare system, arguing that medical professionals treating sickness should accost "not only its current manifestations but also its social, economical, and political causes" (p. 193). He farther remarks on the complexity of America's agricultural industry, noting that a legislated increase in the wages paid to migrant laborers would likely drive more farms toward consummate mechanization. While many of the Triqui abet for legal temporary residency in guild to perform seasonal agricultural labor, Holmes recommends a reform in immigration legislation that would allow a path to citizenship. In sum, Holmes presents a relevant and constructive piece that seeks to make American citizens critically enlightened of the structural and symbolic violence inflicted on the bodies of those whose labor provides u.s. with access to affordable goods—a premise frequently ignored by legislators and politicians. When reading of these migrant farmworkers' lived experiences, information technology becomes readily apparent that building a wall volition not "make America great again"; the problem is not migrant laborers, but the social structures that oppress, dehumanize, and perpetuate symbolic violence. ...more

Jul 10, 2022 Iris rated information technology it was astonishing

information technology's no hush-hush that i'm a huge lover of fruits and veggies—nature'due south candy that is healthy and colorful—and though i promote it equally skilful for the body and the surroundings, i admit i hadn't thought nigh the labor ecosystems that underpins it. this book is informative near the struggles and desires of migrant farm workers, especially related to their physical health. the writer worked in the farm fields with them to better understand the nature of their labor, and to dispel the dichotomy of skilled it'southward no secret that i'k a huge lover of fruits and veggies—nature's candy that is healthy and colorful—and though i promote information technology every bit good for the body and the environment, i admit i hadn't thought nearly the labor ecosystems that underpins it. this book is informative about the struggles and desires of migrant farm workers, peculiarly related to their physical wellness. the author worked in the farm fields with them to better empathise the nature of their labor, and to dispel the dichotomy of skilled vs unskilled labor ...more

We know that our food is artificially inexpensive. At some abstruse level we know at that place'southward suffering involved. Holmes beautifully lets usa see and almost experience what that suffering is actually like: the terror of the border crossing, the social circumstances that make it necessary; the dorsum-neck-knee-and-body-breaking misery of picking strawberries seven days a week for unending hours; waking to rainfall as condensed breath drips from your uninsulated ceiling; the humiliation and insults and violence. Seth We know that our food is artificially inexpensive. At some abstruse level nosotros know at that place's suffering involved. Holmes beautifully lets us run across and almost experience what that suffering is really like: the terror of the border crossing, the social circumstances that make information technology necessary; the back-neck-knee joint-and-body-breaking misery of picking strawberries seven days a week for unending hours; waking to rainfall as condensed breath drips from your uninsulated ceiling; the humiliation and insults and violence. Seth Holmes walked the walk, spending years living with (excuse the term) migrant workers roaming between Oaxaca, California, and Washington. People who turn out to be (gasp!) actual human beings who experience love, joy, fear, sadness, pain (only much, much more than of the latter than you lot or I e'er will).

Holmes writes engagingly, with more grace and heart than I could ever muster. Even when interviewing truly contemptible hatemongering bigots he refrains from editorializing, letting their own words damn them. Just those are simply modest parts of the book. The vast majority takes you into the lives of these families, into their days and hopes of finding improve lives. And into the systems that make that almost impossible.

Recommended reading for anyone who eats food. Required for anyone who has influence over immigration, agricultural, medical, or other cultural policies.

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Aug 22, 2013 Monica rated it it was amazing

I am very glad I read this, and highly recommend it. It is an anthropological ethnography with many voices in it that we don't frequently hear (from Oaxacan Triqui pickers to other people in the agricultural and farm piece of work industry), only whom we are intimately connected to every time nosotros eat. Information technology both confirmed and challenged many of my assumptions. I appreciated the public health focus, the context of migration and supposed private option, commentary on linguistic choices nosotros brand when discussing imm I am very glad I read this, and highly recommend it. It is an anthropological ethnography with many voices in it that we don't often hear (from Oaxacan Triqui pickers to other people in the agronomical and farm work industry), but whom we are intimately connected to every time we eat. It both confirmed and challenged many of my assumptions. I appreciated the public health focus, the context of migration and supposed individual choice, commentary on linguistic choices we make when discussing immigration, and, the stories of the folks the author worked and traveled beside.

A actually important and readable work.

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Aug 26, 2013 Anne rated it it was amazing

Actually good "thick ethnography" of Trique migrant workers' connected stays in CA, WA and Oaxaca, most work in WA in strawberry fields. Non a directly emphasis on the field I'g more than familiar with, date with, electric current food policy bug, just lots, in terms of immigration and the workers he got to know. Ch 2 and 3 on embodied knowledge & segregated workplace would exist crawly for teaching, on both structural racism/s and white privilege. Also, the methodology section on why there is no "methodolo Really practiced "thick ethnography" of Trique migrant workers' connected stays in CA, WA and Oaxaca, most piece of work in WA in strawberry fields. Non a direct accent on the field I'1000 more familiar with, engagement with, current food policy issues, just lots, in terms of immigration and the workers he got to know. Ch 2 and 3 on embodied noesis & segregated workplace would be crawly for teaching, on both structural racism/s and white privilege. Also, the methodology section on why in that location is no "methodology department" is quite interesting. (I might have enjoyed a chip more instance studies on women, esp. pesticides & pregnancy; all the case studies were of men.) ...more

Sep xiv, 2014 Ahmed rated it it was amazing

Incredibly moving and thought provoking. Radically shifted my agreement of migrant labor and the grounds for social alter.

His commentary and mention of Bourdieu'south concept of "symbolic violence" is extremely center-opening and highly relevant to the issue of migrant wellness and more broadly the high-horsed American "fence" on illegal immigration.

His book does a powerful job expounding on how the American agriculture manufacture completely depends on migrant labor while simultaneously accepting ra

Incredibly moving and thought provoking. Radically shifted my understanding of migrant labor and the grounds for social change.

His commentary and mention of Bourdieu'south concept of "symbolic violence" is extremely middle-opening and highly relevant to the upshot of migrant health and more than broadly the high-horsed American "debate" on illegal immigration.

His volume does a powerful job expounding on how the American agronomics industry completely depends on migrant labor while simultaneously accepting racism, denigration, stereotyping, and indecent living standards against this population.

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Jul 10, 2020 Tom rated information technology liked it

this is a pretty adept volume to get some perspective on the experiences of indigenous Mexican migrant farmworkers. i thought the writer's focus on his ain experience rather than that of his "Triqui companions" in the first part of the book and the frequent sociological discussions about symbolic violence etc. were a bit excessive though this is a pretty good book to get some perspective on the experiences of ethnic Mexican migrant farmworkers. i thought the writer's focus on his own experience rather than that of his "Triqui companions" in the first part of the book and the frequent sociological discussions most symbolic violence etc. were a bit excessive though ...more than

3.5. Actually of import subject matter, merely I was distracted from what I felt was the eye of the volume's message by the author's item ethnographic approach and writing style, which really did not click with me. 3.5. Really important subject matter, but I was distracted from what I felt was the heart of the book'southward bulletin by the writer's particular ethnographic approach and writing style, which really did not click with me. ...more

May 12, 2021 Ems rated it it was amazing

An in-depth, empathetic look at what drives migrants to cross our always more militaristic border and the injustices they face while simultaneously being the lifeblood of our agriculture organisation.

It is an ethnography so it's written for academia, simply still adequately straightforward and well written.

An in-depth, compassionate look at what drives migrants to cross our e'er more than militaristic border and the injustices they face up while simultaneously existence the lifeblood of our agriculture organization.

Information technology is an ethnography so it'due south written for academia, only still fairly straightforward and well written.

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Sep x, 2013 Jacque rated information technology it was amazing

Fantastic. One of the best ethnographies I've ever come across; this has motivated me to contemplate what types of advocacy I tin do in guild to support this population. It volition blow you lot away. Fantastic. 1 of the all-time ethnographies I've e'er come up across; this has motivated me to contemplate what types of advocacy I can do in order to back up this population. It volition blow yous away. ...more

Jul 06, 2017 Elsie rated it actually liked it

Truly center opening! Thank you Seth for delving in to meliorate understand the issues!

Dec 14, 2020 Castor rated it did not similar it

The author feels so self-congratulatory that any worthwhile content gets lost. Additionally, outside of the vocalism, information technology has a poor structure. Unfortunate, as this could accept been an important book.

Jul 23, 2021 Wendy rated information technology really liked it

Fantastic ethnography by an anthropologist/medical pupil who migrated with indigenous Triqui farm laborers from Oaxaca, beyond the border, to Washington state and central California, working and living alongside the pickers in the fields. The insights are wholly on point, from the button/pull factors and the legal dichotomies we create for migrants - forcible displacement that merits some protection from our regime, vs "voluntary" economical migration that must exist dissuaded, the structural vio Fantastic ethnography by an anthropologist/medical student who migrated with indigenous Triqui subcontract laborers from Oaxaca, across the border, to Washington state and central California, working and living alongside the pickers in the fields. The insights are wholly on point, from the button/pull factors and the legal dichotomies we create for migrants - forcible displacement that merits some protection from our government, vs "voluntary" economic migration that must exist dissuaded, the structural violence and racism and unfair trade practices…in that location'southward so much good stuff here. And the writing is fantabulous. ...more

Dec 17, 2020 Saeed rated it it was amazing

This simply must become required reading for any anthropology degree, particularly in any form about migration, nutrient, or U.Due south. communities. Sublime fieldwork that'south resulted in a gut-wrenching read about the Mexican farmworkers who keep the U.Due south. fed. This merely must get required reading for any anthropology caste, particularly in any grade most migration, food, or U.S. communities. Sublime fieldwork that's resulted in a gut-wrenching read about the Mexican farmworkers who keep the U.S. fed. ...more

April xxx, 2022 Hamp Dodd rated it it was amazing

great shit. illuminating application of bourdieu and symbolic violence.

Mar 14, 2022 Darcey rated it actually liked it

I found this book on the giveaway shelf of an anthropology section. Was pleasantly surprised to notice that, even though I am non an anthropologist, I pretty much understood the unabridged thing. Parts of it are a chip theory-laden (especially when it talks well-nigh ability structures and structural/political violence), but (a) you can just skip past that stuff, read the non-theory-laden bits, and still get most of the message of the book, and (b) enough of that theory (I call back maybe it'south disquisitional theo I found this book on the giveaway shelf of an anthropology department. Was pleasantly surprised to find that, even though I am non an anthropologist, I pretty much understood the entire affair. Parts of information technology are a bit theory-laden (particularly when information technology talks about power structures and structural/political violence), but (a) you can simply skip past that stuff, read the not-theory-laden bits, and still get most of the message of the volume, and (b) enough of that theory (I retrieve mayhap it'south critical theory?) is floating around in the water these days that the basic ideas were familiar.

This book tells of the plight of migrant farmworkers, who illegally cross the Us-Mexico border to seek out work doing intense manual labor on The states farms. In particular, Holmes focuses on an indigenous grouping called the Triqui, and their piece of work picking strawberries on a subcontract in Washington State. I experience like I learned a ton from reading this, both about the journey beyond the border (Holmes accompanied a group of migrants as they crossed the border, every bit office of his fieldwork), how a fruit subcontract works in general (he describes all the dissimilar jobs on the farm, and profiles some of the people belongings each ane), and of form, virtually the miserable living and working weather of the extremely poor subcontract laborers. They alive in uninsulated, unheated shacks, where their breath freezes on the tin roof overnight, then drips icy water on them in the morning as the air starts to heat up. They work very long days in the fields, doing the grueling manual labor of bending down on their knees picking strawberries; they are forced to meet very exacting minimum quotas or else be fired, which means that they take no fourth dimension to take lunch or bathroom breaks; and they frequently become injured in this line of work. Furthermore, they have very little opportunity for advancement, and are barred from English classes which would brand it easier for them to live in the States. The linguistic communication barrier is a huge issue for these people, who speak pretty much no English language, and not even that much Spanish (since they mostly speak Triqui).

Holmes is an MD/PhD, and focuses a lot on how the migrant workers interact with the healthcare system. He profiles 3 Triqui farmworkers: Abelino, who injures his knee while working in the strawberry fields; Crescencio, who develops a headache every time one of his superiors at piece of work yells at him or uses a racist slur against him, and the headache but goes away when he drinks a agglomeration of beer; and Bernardo, who has chronic stomachaches which prevent him from eating, which he's been suffering from e'er since he was captured and tortured by police force in United mexican states, who beat him past hitting him in the breadbasket. All three of them try to seek healthcare in the U.s., and Abelino tries to seek worker'south compensation, but they run into various difficulties. For one matter, at that place's the language bulwark; they get to a migrant health clinic, just often the dr. interviewing them doesn't even speak much Castilian, much less Triqui, which makes it impossible to collect accurate information or communicate with them. (In general, the system apparently just refuses to switch communications to Spanish for the migrant laborers. They're constantly presented with paperwork that's but in English language, even when they've requested Spanish paperwork, and there's rarely anyone available to serve as an interpreter.) So the doctors are unable to collect accurate information from the patients. But fifty-fifty when they can, this information is deprioritized compared to "objective" medical scans, which are often washed hastily and are missing a lot of information; for example, Abelino got an MRI of his knee which showed no cleaved bones, but this led to people basically writing "knee is fine" in his file rather than doing whatsoever other tests to run across what was really wrong. The doctors trust this "objective" info in the charts over whatsoever subjective info, like the patients' report of their own pain level. And the doctors do non collect the right type of subjective info or patient histories; Holmes emphasizes that the doctors collect physical and some psychological/behavioral information, but they're not trained to enquire questions that reveal the social realities responsible for the migrant workers' suffering. The doctors recommend lifestyle changes that these people can't do (similar telling Abelino to get a job with lighter piece of work until his knee heals), because they're too constrained past their economic situation, and the doctors completely ignore the broader social context that puts the migrant workers in this bad state of affairs to begin with. In fact, the very structure of the medical engagement, where the doctor sees the patient 1-on-i in an function, encourages the doctor to only focus on the individual person, and not the social reality they're embedded in.

Ane thing I really liked near this volume is that, fifty-fifty when he is describing the doctors who provide inadequate care, or the supervisors on the farm who are openly racist towards the Triqui people, Holmes never paints anyone as "bad guys", or simplifies the narrative into a basic struggle between expert and evil. From what I can tell, Holmes really, really believes in the power of structural forces rather than individual deportment, and then he gives structural explanations for why people act the way they exercise. The doctors are forced to give inadequate care, because they are overworked, and are forced to meet patients extremely quickly (about 15 minutes for each appointment) in order to proceed the clinic profitable. Furthermore, they literally are not aware of the economic realities that the Triqui people are discipline to, and they're also sometimes unaware of the details of the complicated hierarchy they participate in; for instance, a medico at i point signs a piece of paperwork proverb Abelino's knee is healed (even though information technology isn't), which cuts off Abelino's worker's bounty, but the doctor is unaware that the paperwork caused this. As for the supervisors on the farm, Holmes does brand a point of explaining that some of them act in racist ways while others don't, just he too explains the cultural upbringing that inculcates racist attitudes. For case, white teenagers are hired to work on the farm. Younger ones pick strawberries, but they don't take a minimum like the Triqui practise, and their work is much less strenuous; this gives them the mistaken impression that they know what it's like to practice the Triquis' jobs. Slightly older white teenagers work as "checkers", weighing baskets of strawberries; they're taught non to talk to the Triqui workers, are encouraged to curt-modify them during the weighing, and are basically encouraged to meet the Triqui as split up from themselves and lower in the hierarchy.

A last thought: this book was extremely different from the (5 or so) other ethnographies that I've read. Those books focused on remote civilizations which had had very little contact with white settlers, so the anthropologist mostly tried to stay uninvolved and to exist a neutral outside observer; I got the sense that those anthropologists were following something similar the Prime Directive. But this book was obviously much closer to home, and had a clear activist agenda. I guess I was surprised, because I thought that this kind of activism would bias the ethnography, but Holmes never talks nigh this at all, and I gauge all ethnographies are biased in some way or another. Holmes's goal is to raise awareness of how migrant farm laborers endure, and what their quality of life is like. He also gives specific suggestions for how to reform the medical system to serve them more than effectively. He likewise blames very specific laws and economic policies (particularly something chosen NAFTA) for causing the economic situation that forces the Triqui to migrate in society to brand a living. (They traditionally grew corn in Oaxaca, but NAFTA makes it impossible for Mexico to impose tarriffs on U.s. corn, and the US highly subsidizes corn production, which means that information technology's cheapter to import US corn to United mexican states than to buy the Mexican-grown corn. And so the Triqui accept been out of work as corn farmers and have needed to migrate to make money.)

The other thing that surprised me well-nigh this book, compared to other ethnographies I'd read, was that Holmes didn't really spend whatever time describing the Triqui culture and how it differed from US/United mexican states culture or what made information technology unique. He only brought up cultural details when they were relevant for understanding the medical state of affairs. For instance, the Triqui don't get married on paper with the authorities, but instead practise a traditional bridewealth anniversary. They also get married very young, typically before age 18. This means that, when the girls go into the hospitals to give birth, the fathers get arrested for statutory rape, since they are not legally the husband. Another cultural detail we learn is that there is a lot of fighting over land between the Triqui and Mestizo towns in Oaxaca. A 3rd cultural item is that the Triqui view themselves every bit more hardy and better at doing the hard manual labor of farmwork, which then merely serves to reinforce their identify in the social hierarchy. I call back that's basically all I learned about Triqui culture. But that's ok; I understand that it wasn't the focus of this volume.

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Dec xxx, 2019 Din rated it really liked it

This isn't a book you necessarily read to figure out that migrant farm workers are mistreated, overworked, underpaid, and without rights. Chances are, people who read this book are already familiar with these ideas.
Seth Holmes does not introduce readers to the horrors of agribusiness as if information technology's some revelation, and being an anthropologist, instead focuses on specific, named people and shares highly detailed accounts of their experiences. These people felt like non-fictional characters, protagon This isn't a book you necessarily read to figure out that migrant subcontract workers are mistreated, overworked, underpaid, and without rights. Chances are, people who read this book are already familiar with these ideas.
Seth Holmes does not introduce readers to the horrors of agribusiness every bit if it'due south some revelation, and beingness an anthropologist, instead focuses on specific, named people and shares highly detailed accounts of their experiences. These people felt like non-fictional characters, protagonists of sorts, in a story of human suffering.
It was an incredible book that was written through significant cede in order to improve understand a side of agricultural most are only peripherally enlightened of. While I find information technology easy to recommend to anyone who might be interested, I'thousand not without criticism for the book.
Although the writer speaks to a level of awareness toward the cultural erasure and political bias brought most past broad, non-specific terms like "Latino" (particularly when talking about specific people when the term should most be avoided) he still, on several instances, falls into using them when talking virtually individuals. These were people he spent time talking to and knew by name, did he not think to inquire about their cultural identity? Situations like these, though few, seem to betrayal Seth'south microscopic view into a singular indigenous group with which he spends almost all of his time with (the Triqui people of Oaxaca) that he seems to lack the same level of interest in other people. While I truly enjoyed learning and then much about a population of people I was not at all familiar with beforehand, his perspective on migrant workers was and so insular to this one group of people that I cannot say I came abroad from it agreement the seasonal migrant experience and so much as I became very familiar with the experiences of Triqui people specifically. This isn't a bad affair in its own right, but he doesn't frame his narrative this manner, and makes many broad statements and anecdotes that simply can't be stretched out from such a narrow lens.
There is also the thing of how he congenital his relationship with the Triqui people. It is blatantly unethical, and even though he somewhen gained their trust, he writes in detail about how his presence fabricated them experience unsafe and he was not welcome. It is an egregious abuse of privilege and incredibly insensitive the way he simply shows upward in some rural Pueblo without connections and just starts request these people signal blank if he can illegally cross the border with them for research. ...more

Very powerful ethnographic study of Triqui migrants (from Southern Oaxaca, Mexico) who wreck their bodies and then that nosotros tin have inexpensive fresh berries. Seth Homes is both a medical doctor and an anthropologist who lives and works with the Triqui both as they labor to pick fruit in Washington and equally they drift s to choice in California; he also lives with them in Oaxaca, Mexico and attempts to cantankerous the desert with them into the United states of america. I take assigned this in my high school anthropology class and the Very powerful ethnographic study of Triqui migrants (from Southern Oaxaca, United mexican states) who wreck their bodies so that nosotros tin have cheap fresh berries. Seth Homes is both a medical doc and an anthropologist who lives and works with the Triqui both as they labor to pick fruit in Washington and as they drift south to choice in California; he also lives with them in Oaxaca, Mexico and attempts to cross the desert with them into the US. I have assigned this in my high school anthropology class and the students take responded well to it. Many of my students have parents who migrated to the US and empathize information technology is not something one does lightly; that the weather condition in which you alive have to be horrid to make the dangers of crossing and and so working in fields that are physically enervating and low paying worth taking the take a chance.

Holmes' insight into the structural causes of migrant suffering and the many ways in which the health care system has failed them (their bodies are damaged past the harsh working atmospheric condition, however most don't authorize for Medicaid or receive appropriate workman's comp) - lack of appropriate translators, assumptions that they speak Spanish because they are "Mexican," the challenges of providing health care to people who are forced to move to find work, the difficulties of providing handling when "rest" is non an option and the living conditions are awful.

I also very much liked his discussion of symbolic violence - how both sides come to believe that this division of labor is "natural" - that Triqui bodies are built for this work and they don't heed information technology - reminiscent of slaves don't experience the heat and are congenital to pick cotton wool.

The Inhumane ways the pickers are treated - the derogatory names, the means they are cheated out of pay, the squalid living conditions justified considering "they are used to living like that" are tragic. Holmes believes the kickoff step is making people aware that these weather exist and that this division is not "natural". He besides offers steps that can exist taken.

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February 08, 2019 Jessica rated it it was amazing

A great distillation (made from extensive fieldwork in the California/Skagit Valley) that builds from theoretical frameworks from Bourdieu primarily to talk about the ways in which indigenous Triqui laborers experience agronomical work as physically and emotionally taxing. Holmes alternates between studies of structural and symbolic violence to come across how these laborers experience the physical exhaustion of picking apples, strawberries & blueberries in an array of farming landscapes, and how both A smashing distillation (made from all-encompassing fieldwork in the California/Skagit Valley) that builds from theoretical frameworks from Bourdieu primarily to talk virtually the ways in which ethnic Triqui laborers feel agricultural work as physically and emotionally taxing. Holmes alternates between studies of structural and symbolic violence to run into how these laborers experience the physical exhaustion of picking apples, strawberries & blueberries in an array of farming landscapes, and how both the farm construction--in the Skagit Valley, made from a historic Japanese-American family--and the clinics and hospitals in which these laborers receive treatment are hierarchies of racialized inequality. He looks at how laborers develop stress injuries--headaches from the constant onslaught of criticism and racialized disdain, to tendonitis, to gastrointestinal distress--and how those injuries, often made partially from past trauma, are ignored or misread via the "clinical gaze."
Holmes does extensive, important piece of work to critique his own positionality as a white scholar in the text, peculiarly as he can accept steps to alleviate his own physical pain through medical and therapeutic resources to which the laborers do non take access. He likewise notes how important it is to read bodies in infinite in order to fully sympathize the experiences of labor and medicine, and constantly weaves both Western and indigenous medical practices into the documentation of the laborers' pursuit of better health and a pain-free life. Possibly well-nigh importantly, he leverages a cardinal critique of the erasure of ethnic peoples in the monolithic treatment of "laborers" or "farmworkers" equally Key American or Mexican, an erasure that fails to acknowledge how many divisions are fabricated within those groups that advantage Mestizo laborers over the Triqui. Information technology is clear from this work how much attention and care he has given to his subject, and the volume is an important intervention in studies of industrialized agriculture and global migration. ...more

October xiii, 2020 Colin rated information technology it was amazing

While Goodreads marks 5 stars as "It was amazing," hither, the qualifier must exist added: it was amazingly good at depressing me with its illumination of the ills suffered by migrant farmworkers. By taking an immersive enthnographic tack, Holmes lives more or less in the same shoes every bit the workers who pick our fruits and vegetables, describing their experiences from within. And it is not a pretty sight.

Physical stressors compound on external racism, stacked on top of fears of legal reprisals, expound

While Goodreads marks 5 stars equally "It was astonishing," here, the qualifier must be added: it was amazingly expert at depressing me with its illumination of the ills suffered by migrant farmworkers. Past taking an immersive enthnographic tack, Holmes lives more or less in the same shoes as the workers who pick our fruits and vegetables, describing their experiences from within. And information technology is not a pretty sight.

Physical stressors compound on external racism, stacked on top of fears of legal reprisals, expounded with political dubiousness, capped with the desire just to make an honest cadet. Holmes draws attention to the fact that while many people (including some depicted in this book) paint migrant workers as stealing American jobs (while also calling them lazy), they are non hither by choice, simply rather as a product of the economical pressures of the global economic system. This pressure is shown through the experience of working at a farm in Skagit, Washington, where the owners are idealistic, but have pressure exerted on them from to a higher place by the global market; and while the pressure continues down the chain of command for various reasons, the idealism plummets, with the crew bosses and checkers coming beyond as indifferent, uncaring taskmasters.

Holmes' medical apprehending comes into play with his farther narrowing of focus to the injuries of some of the workers, and the exploration of systemized racism that both brought them these injuries and forestall them from receiving adequate care. While at least in the medical setting, it appears to be due to a lack of cultural understanding and linguistic communication barriers, it is no less confusing to the lives of those who demand their physical bodies to exist healthy in order to continue working and surviving; and these workers are suffering, invisibly, in gild to bring us the nutrient we eat every solar day.

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The fault with this book is non so much that there's annihilation incorrect with the book, it'due south that I was expecting something dissimilar, something more fun to read, something a little more than pop sociological. This was more than like someone's PhD thesis in folklore, lightened upward but enough to laissez passer equally a general involvement book. The author spent a lot of time with migrant workers from Oaxaca who were working every bit pickers in the strawberry fields in Washington State. What did I find in at that place? Everything I expected The fault with this book is not and so much that at that place's anything wrong with the book, it'south that I was expecting something dissimilar, something more fun to read, something a piddling more than pop sociological. This was more like someone's PhD thesis in sociology, lightened up just plenty to pass as a general interest book. The writer spent a lot of time with migrant workers from Oaxaca who were working as pickers in the strawberry fields in Washington Country. What did I discover in in that location? Everything I expected. The work is incredibly physically difficult and prematurely ruins their bodies; the pickers are treated as sub-human past the other farm workers and social club in general; it'southward difficult for them to get medical care; whatever professionals helping them mostly don't expect closely at their circumstances; there aren't always translators bachelor (peculiarly because these people don't speak Spanish, just a different native language). I mean, all that stuff is terrible and all, simply the thing is, we all know information technology already and no one seems to feel the responsibility of doing something almost information technology. So this book only documents something that may or may not e'er alter. I hateful, I would totally pay more for fruits and vegetables— even a lot more, fifty-fifty twice as much — if it meant that the people picking them could take a decent life, merely what tin 1 person do to make that happen? Nothing. So this book really just made me feel sort of guilty for eating the amount of produce I eat without giving me a path for discharging that guilt. ...more

May 29, 2017 Brianna Egan rated information technology it was astonishing

Incredible ethnographical portrait of migrant farmworker problems in the United states today, peculiarly of those faced by Triqui and other indigenous migrant groups from United mexican states. Seth Holmes unfolds circuitous binds in our economic and agronomical system through an embodied ethnography--in much the same way Paul Farmer advocates for "accompaniment" of the poor. Holmes explores the structural violence nowadays in NAFTA (which is a major driver in destabilizing ethnic Mexican corn-farming families), in the Incredible ethnographical portrait of migrant farmworker issues in the Us today, especially of those faced by Triqui and other indigenous migrant groups from United mexican states. Seth Holmes unfolds complex binds in our economical and agronomical system through an embodied ethnography--in much the same way Paul Farmer advocates for "accompaniment" of the poor. Holmes explores the structural violence present in NAFTA (which is a major driver in destabilizing ethnic Mexican corn-farming families), in the crossing of the edge (the desert simply made more perilous by threats from the Border Patrol), in the fields (ripe with an ethnic hierarchy that determines one'southward living and working conditions, treatment, and rights; ripe, as well, with back-breaking piece of work), and in well-meaning just under-staffed and ill-informed medical clinics.

This volume is for anyone looking to get a better agreement of the human being rights issues present in our modern food system. For anyone looking to better sympathise the complex economic drivers that force deportation and migration on vulnerable communities. For anyone, who like me, finds themselves living and working in a farmworking community just without ties or connections to the place and seeking a more than nuanced agreement of information technology all to become a better community member.

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April 29, 2020 Nikitha rated it really liked it

I read this for my health disparities form, and I would recommend this book to everyone in America, especially the isolated eye class members similar me lol. This was such an eye-opening volume, because I really didn't know much about the realities of the migrant farmworker customs in America. I really appreciated the author's insider approach to opening readers upwards to the lives and struggles of these people. The writer was also actually skilful at being somewhat objective and including everyone's pe I read this for my health disparities course, and I would recommend this book to everyone in America, especially the isolated middle class members like me lol. This was such an eye-opening book, because I really didn't know much about the realities of the migrant farmworker customs in America. I really appreciated the author's insider approach to opening readers up to the lives and struggles of these people. The author was also really skillful at existence somewhat objective and including everyone's perspective from the farm owners to the pickers on the fields. However, the writer's major purpose was to expose the suffering of the Triqui migrant pickers, and so he definitely focused on their experiences and obstacles. I as well actually appreciated how he discussed issues with healthcare in relation to the migrant farmworker population, which was super interesting and relevant to my field of involvement. After reading this book, I feel and then much more enlightened about the motives and structural forces that shape the lives of undocumented immigrants in America. ...more than

Feb 27, 2018 Danny rated it really liked information technology

Impactful ethnography. Seth Holmes enters the world of Mexican seasonal migrants, and it's every scrap as brutal as you'd imagine it to be. The book is at its best when Holmes places himself in the center of the narrative, sharing how he experienced the border crossing coyotes, the burnout from fruit picking and the work hierarchy that he went on to place a particular part in.

There'due south no issue of accessibility. The book is written so that a wide audition can gain insight into the dire migration

Impactful ethnography. Seth Holmes enters the world of Mexican seasonal migrants, and information technology's every bit as barbarous as you'd imagine information technology to be. The book is at its best when Holmes places himself in the middle of the narrative, sharing how he experienced the border crossing coyotes, the exhaustion from fruit picking and the piece of work hierarchy that he went on to identify a particular function in.

There's no result of accessibility. The volume is written so that a broad audience can gain insight into the dire migration dynamics and run across some of the fallacies of stereotypical beliefs amidst nearby residents without any direct contact to the workers, besides every bit how these behavior go self-reinforcing.

The only thing that I didn't find disarming was the way that private injuries were linked to systemic violence. Non that I am in pregnant disagreement, just simply that the (over)theoreticisation reminded me of why I'g not always the biggest fan of anthropology. Still, delight read this.

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Mar 06, 2019 Elizabeth Kim rated it it was amazing

Rating 5/5

Absolutely love and capeesh this book! Earlier reading this volume, I always believed that there is a need for individuals to experience for themselves what a community is going through instead of only assuming a community's situation based on bachelor information. For this reason, I really appreciated how Holmes had put himself in a position to embody himself in his fieldwork and experience what the Triqui migrants are experiencing through his own trunk. I actually wish that in that location are more ack

Rating 5/v

Absolutely love and capeesh this book! Before reading this volume, I e'er believed that at that place is a need for individuals to experience for themselves what a customs is going through instead of simply assuming a customs'due south situation based on available data. For this reason, I really appreciated how Holmes had put himself in a position to embody himself in his fieldwork and experience what the Triqui migrants are experiencing through his own torso. I really wish that there are more acknowledgments and awareness in works like these in the scientific community, especially since I truly believe that there is a need for more interdisciplinary works in order to meet more effective changes in the globe.

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Information technology'southward the time of year for soups, sautees, and stories! If you're looking for a palate cleansing not-fiction to listen to, this roundup has memoirs...

"The pressures of the electric current neoliberal capitalist system of wellness intendance and its financing strength health professionals into a double demark. Either they spend the time and energy necessary to listen to and fully treat the patient and put their job and dispensary in economical jeopardy, or they move at a corybantic pace to keep their practice afloat and just partially attend to the patient in their presence." — 2 likes

"the reality of survival for my Triqui companions shows that it would be riskier to stay in San Miguel without work, money, food, or didactics. In this original context, crossing the border is not a choice to engage in a risk behavior but rather a process necessary to survive, to brand life less risky." — 2 likes

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