When thinking of Mexican American immigrants what comes to mind? The American public consistently listens to the media telling stories of how these people cross the border illegally, which is deemed as a crime. Immigrants are portrayed just as stealing American jobs and benefiting from government programs such as welfare. Countless people think it was a voluntary action for them to come to the United State, therefore whatever comes their way is what they deserve regardless if it is health problems, racism or low paying jobs. However, what most of American people don’t realize is that the majority of Mexican migrants are forced to migrate to the United State in order to survive. They constantly risk their lives to cross a dangerous border in order to find the jobs that the American people don’t want to endure. In the book called “Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies”, the author, Seth Holmes focuses on the lives of an indigenous Mexican group called the Triquis. Throughout the book, he focuses on the journey of the group from their hometown of Oaxaca to farms in California and Washington. The book also emphasizes how racism and health problems of migrant workers have become invisible to the American people. It is commonly seen that their personal damage such as health problems and placement on the social hierarchy system is only to be blamed on their sole decision to come to a country where they are considered illegal. Instead of blaming the Triqui people for their sickness,
The article “Don't Blame The Eater,” written by David Zinczenko evokes readers the crucial impact that fast food restaurants have in today's nation's youth causing them to be over weight and have type 2ndiabetes. Throughout Zinczenko's argument he makes the reader view the consumer as a victim yet on the other hand, what he is trying to persuade us to believe by using logos,pathos,and ethos in his argument is that the food industry is the one making the nation's youth to increase obesity. The capacity of impressive questions and personal experience, he composed in the text he is able to comprehensively argue against the fast food industry. The author persuades us right away by starting of with a question: “Kids taking on McDonald's this
There are many valuable life lessons offered in novels, some might be obvious and others complex to understand. However, in the book Spare Parts by Joshua Davis there are many small lesson, though they are so exceptional significant. Throughout the book the author, Joshua Davis, provided the reader with three meaningful lessons, which are: team work is imperative, people are capable of achieving anything with support from others and a creative mind, and finally, that determination is the key success.
David G Gutiérrez’s Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity discuss the deep and complex understudied relationship between Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants. This relationship was a natural consequence of the mass illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States that had constantly been increasing the population of “ethnic Mexicans” and along with it brought tensions between those who were Americans of Mexican descent and had been living here for generations and those who had freshly arrived to the United States and as such did whatever they had to do to make a living.
Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz’s, Labor and Legality is a book written on the Mexican immigrant network in the U.S. She centers it on the Lions, a group of Mexican men from Leon, Mexico that all share their lives and help explain the many networks and strategies that are used in order to excel and gain happiness. There have been many different sorts of misconceptions about immigrants, and in recent years about undocumented immigrants from Mexico. The U.S. has made a sort of war on illegal immigrants and has made it a seemingly high priority in the media and in politics. Therefore, many Americans have been mislead and ill-informed about the history of immigrants/undocumented immigrants. Gomberg-Muñoz’s Labor and Legality helps set us straight. She unveils undocumented immigrants for the people that they are instead of the criminals that the media leads many to believe. Although she doesn’t have a wide range of participants for her study, I believe that she addresses many of the misconceptions and just plain ignorance that American people have of people that are undocumented; why stereotypes are supported by the people themselves, why politicians include stronger illegal immigration laws, and everything in between. Many of her topics reveal a sort of colonialism that the U.S. practices on Mexico; the exploitation of undocumented peoples to the benefit of the U.S. through economics, hypocritical laws and campaigns, and the racist and prejudice consequences.
Immigrants are never fully welcome in a new place because people form small “in-groups” and ignore those in the “out-groups” in most cases. Smith starts this essay with a brief story about a fourth grader, Rodrigo Guzman and his family being deported back to Mexico, focusing on the reaction from his classmates when
Throughout the various books that we have read, one of the many concepts that stood out for me was the well-being and healthcare of undocumented workers. Due to the current criminalization of immigration, most undocumented workers live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. This really made me think about the psychological and somatic outcomes of fear, stigma, trauma, and prejudice for undocumented workers. This brought into question the structural and symbolic violence that causes undocumented workers to suffer from mental and physical illnesses and how the treatment, if any, is administered.
In her book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz describes the lives of ten busboys, she referrs to as the Lions, living and working in the Chicago area. Gomberg-Muñoz provides an insight into the lives of these undocumented Mexican workers. They share their stories of crossing the border, the affects of their absence on family back in Mexico, and the daily struggles of living in a country without the benefits of citizenship. The Lions, as well as other undocumented Mexicans, have to face Americans stereotypes every day. Probably the biggest stereotype the Lions contend with is the belief that all Mexicans are hard workers.
The book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States illustrates the fieldwork of the author Seth M. Holmes by explaining the myriad aspects of migrant workers’ lives in the U.S.—from the politics to the social environments to the physical body. By not only studying, but living, the lives of these migrant workers, Holmes brings the reader a view unseen by the vast majority and provides the opportunity for greater understanding through the intense details of his work. The voices of vastly different characters—real people—are captured and expounded on without judgment but with deep consideration for all factors that contribute to each person’s life, opinions, and knowledge. Ultimately, a picture of intersectionality is painted in the colors of migrants, mothers, fathers, children, doctors, soldiers, executives, the poor, the rich, and more.
Seth Holmes contributes greatly to the conversation of American immigration in his ethnography “Fresh Fruit Broken Bodies”. His detailed account of the experiences he had, people he met, and things he observed gives us great insight into the hierarchies in migrant society, the struggles immigrants face in terms of their health and health care, and how these inequalities become naturalized in society. Reading from his ethnography would make a great addition to the Anthropology 104 curriculum because of the various topics talked about and his different methods of research.
Immigration is a rapid growing issue for the United States. For a long time people from other countries have been coming here to look for bigger and better things for themselves, as well as for their families. This article digs to the core of the issue, illegal immigration. Chideya wanted to know three things: 1) What is the reality behind the perceptions of Mexican Americans, 2) How do the residents of El Paso look upon the Mexicans, and 3) How do Mexican-Americans see themselves and their cousins across the border.
Immigration has always been a topic of conversation in politics, especially in the last election. People’s views towards whether immigration is a bad or good thing for the economy is up for debate. Many people find that immigrants destroy the economy, and have no right coming into the United States. Whereas some people view immigrants as a vital part of the United States’ social class, and they view immigrants as strong, willful people who made the difficult decision in coming over to the United States. In the two articles, “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line” written by Randal archibold, and “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family,” written by Sonia Nazario, it gives people an insight into the struggles and hardships families endure
In the article, “Rotten Apples,” Haley Sweetland Edwards discusses the issues of teacher tenure and struggling schools in California. Rich businessmen like David Welch argued that California’s constitution regarding to job protection makes it difficult for schools to remove bad teachers who are hurting their student’s future. This lead to a group of businessmen and lawyers joining together to start “Vergara” cases on several courts around the nation (149). However, the teacher’s union think that Welch’s objective was conflicting and puts the union in danger as a whole, not just the “bad” teachers. The Time’s method of presenting this article will determine their responsibility and whether their method justifies the journalistic way of writing about the topic.
Vigorous debates about immigration policy have been part of U.S. history since the first settlers began arriving from Europe (Novas, 1994; Kessler, 2001; Reichman, 2006). Those who favor more stringent restrictions on entry to the country, and greater penalties for violating those restrictions, argue that it is necessary for the safety and economic security of our nation and to preserve jobs for U.S. born workers (Camarota, 2011). Those who favor more leniency, and even amnesty for those in the U.S. without legal documentation, argue that the U.S. should maintain its standing as a nation of immigrants where everyone is welcome and where differences add value to the economy and our quality of life (National Council of La Raza, 2008). In today 's heated debates, immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America are most often at the center of the controversy (Camarota, 2011; National Council of La Raza, 2008) as sixty-two percent (62%) of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. are originally from Mexico, and another twelve percent (12%) from other Spanish-speaking countries of South and Central America (Hoeffer, Rytina, & Baker, 2010).
The Triqui people are a group of minorities that have been disrespected not only in the United States but also in Mexico, forced by global markets and Mexican politics to migrate, and have to work in harsh conditions for low wages due to structural violence by the manual labor hierarchies. They talk about the many injuries and sickness that the Triqui people endure due to the harsh environments. The Triqui are considered violent and inhumane people, based off of the stereotypes about their history. These acquisitions have been rumored for so long that the Triqui’s started to act violent. They have begun to partake in the violent behaviors due to the political violence, structural violence, and labor hierarchies. When the Triqui people
Undocumented immigrants who come to America have always been stigmatized, especially Mexican immigrants. The novel “Into The Beautiful North” by Luis Alberto Urrea highlights many of the issues faced by undocumented Mexican immigrants in the United States. The main characters in the book illegally cross the border from Mexico into America and go on a journey to better the lives of everyone in their village back home. Throughout the story, they witness and experience issues that Mexican immigrants face such as Border Patrol abuse, discrimination, language barriers, and labor hardships. Though the story is fictional, it illustrates real life problems that need to be addressed. There are efforts to solve these issues, but they lack support needed to really make significant change in a timely manner. There are also various potential solutions, some more obvious than others, but they simply have not been invested in due to reasons such as lack of supporters or funding. Popular opinion and modern media portray undocumented Mexican immigrants are portrayed as unwanted invaders who are here to ruin the country, but this is simply not true. They are human just like Americans and they want to better the lives of themselves and their families. People need to recognize everything that they go through just so they can live in this country. The fact that undocumented Mexican immigrants endure many hardships so that they can escape the poor conditions in Mexico and seek better lives for