You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
-Dr. Seuss

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Notes from SJSU Panel on "Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies"

The Department Of Justice Studies at SJSU Hosted The Ann Lucas In Law & Justice Featuring A Debate On The Book "Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farm Workers In The United States" By Seth M. Holmes. It took place on April 23rd and I was fortunate to be able to attend. Here are some notes!

Seth M. Holmes
  • Anthropologist
  • Author of "Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies"
  • PHD from Berkeley 
  • Director of Public Health @ Berkeley
  • Physician

On The Panel
  • Kitty Calavita (UC Irvine)
  • Maria Echaveste (Stanford, Berkeley)

How The Book Came To Be
  • From Seth's own curiosity & interest
  • wanted to know about relationship between U.S & Mexico
  • The way we get our food and where it comes from 
  • Indigenous people

The Experience (brief)
  • Seth worked picking berries and strawberries twice a week
  • other days interviewed nurses/doctors about campesino's health
  • lived w/ Triqui ppl (19 of them) in a small shack apartment
  • he lived in the closet
  • lives in oaxaca for a while
  • crossed the desert border and was detained and fined by border patrol
  • took 7 yrs to write the book
  • visits Triqui ppl almost every yr.

Tonaca Farm
  • Jap/American workers
  • Aglo American owners?
  • $7.16/hr in Washington ST.

3 Types Of Labor Camps
  1. 50 ppl 
  • no insolation
  • derogative terms like "perro"(dog), "Indio estupido" (stupid indian/indigenous), "burro" (donkey), and "Oaxaca"(from Oaxacan descent) are used by the owners to call or describe their employees.
  • no heating ??
      2. ??

      3. 250 ppl 
  • no insolation
  • pickers do not take breaks for fear that they might not make the weight of fruit they need to pick
  • the more fruit the more money

Racism
  • Mizteco ppl earn more money than Triqui ppl
  • Triqui ppl are categorized by others as the "most dumb indigenous"

Migrant Health
  • Clinics are usually unfunded 
  • most migrants do not have health insurance
  • by age 30, 40s and 50s the campesino is worn-out b/c of harsh labor 

Book recommendation
  • The Birth Of The Clinic
  • look up symbolic violence

Maria Echaveste:
  • Why is is that ppl believe that others are more well suited to pick strawberries? Why categorize people? 
  • Agriculture has always been an exploited industry

Recommended Documentary
  • "Harvest Of Shame"

Some Resources

Took these notes in the student union at SJSU on friday :)

Bureau Of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/forbrn.pdf

2012:

  • Hispanics accounted for 48.3% of foreign-born labor.
  • Asians accounted for 23.7%
  • Median usual weekly earnings full-time: $625 (Foreign), $725 (native born)
National Center For Farm worker Health
  • 72% farm workers were foreign born
Huff Post: Latino Politics


*I plan on using these websites and more throughout my research for my masterpiece

A Guide To My Masterpiece: The Social Injustice Of The Campesino

I actually made a powerpoint but have no idea how to even attach it to this so here it is....


A Guide Through My Masterpiece: The Social Injustice Of The Campesino




My Interest, My passion 
  • Agriculture is a huge part of my community
  •  My father and family members are or once were victims of the injustice of the field work.
  •  I want to make people aware of the conditions of these hard working Campesinos.



Interviews: "Viewing It Through Their Eyes"

I have already began interviewing students whose parents work as Campesinos. My job now is to interview actual Campesinos and ask them about their treatment and labor. This will serve as a vital part to my masterpiece.    




My Resources
  • Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
  • Activist Cesar Chavez 
  • United Farm Workers Cite
  • Mrs. Byrne
  • Mr. Jauregui
  • Mrs. Villalbos
  • Mr. Valencia 
  • Ana Marquez- Examining the health of laborers
  • Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes
  • Bureau Of Labor Statistics
  • National Center For Farm worker Health
  • HuffPost: Latino Politics
  • Maria Echaveste
  • Notes from SJSU Justice Studies "Ann Lucas Lecture in Law & Justice" on Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes


EXTRAS
  • Talk about the Campesino and their family’s Health
  • Facts about their health and uncared for it is
  • Inhumane condition facts
  • Quotes and thoughts on labor 
  • How we can help