Ethnography
Fresh Fruit broken bodies takes us deep into the lives of migrant workers and the many struggles they face when trying to cross the border. Holmes does an amazing job at humanizing the migrant workers. His work is very beneficial to the current topic of immigration into the United States. As a reader, you can empathize with the Triqui migrants, they become more than just a group of people crossing illegally into the U.S; which is often what the media tries to portray when speaking on immigration into the U.S
Holmes is looking to understand the political, economic, cultural and social elements involved in migrant labor and health. Holmes describes the many instances of violence these workers experience when trying to cross the border,
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Doctors are busy giving family members updates on their loved ones. Traumas are coming in with families in complete fear. Admitting staff trying to get information from the families to get patients registered while trying explain to patients why they must stay, and why some procedures aren’t covered by insurance. The thousands of questions the admitting staff get from patients about their stay all the while being invisible to majority of the staff. That is the Emergency room, that is what an ordinary person walking in does not see. The clicks and the social norms and the hierchy involved in hospital care. The disconnect of clinical staff from non-clinical staff. This same disconnect that contributes to low emergency room patient satisfaction scores, the reason why people leave the ER unhappy. People who work in the ER come in all shapes and sizes. Most of the nurses are females with just a few male nurses, all of which are between 20 to 60 years of age. Admitting staff is made up of males and females from different social backgrounds. The ER is a melting pot, which sometimes can be difficult to
A visit to the emergency department (ED) is usually associated with negative thoughts by most people. It creates preconceived images of overcrowded waiting rooms and routine long waits for treatment (Jarousse, 2011). From 1996 to 2006, ED visits increased annually from 90.3 million to 119.2 million (32% increase). During this same time period, the number of EDs has declined by 186 facilities creating the age old lower supply and greater demand concept (Crane & Noon, 2011). There are many contributing factors that have led to an increase in ED visits. A few of these key drivers include lack of primary care access, rising of the uninsured population, dwindling mental health services, and the growing elderly
According to Jie Zong, Jeanne Batalova, and Jeffrey Hallock, the U.S. has been “the top destination for international migrants since the least 1960, with one fifth of the world’s migrants living there as of 2017.” It is well known to numerous people that hundreds of immigrants travel from all over the world to the United States, but what exactly does it take for many of them to get here? One such author, Sonia Nazario, manages to capture the gruesome journey of one immigrant boy, who like many others, is attempting to make it to the United States. The author reveals the brutal realities and the main reason countless of young children make their way to America. In her novel, Enrique’s Journey, Sonia Nazario utilizes pathos, reputable sources,
The humanized approach taken by De León provides the reader with an emotional route to understanding the actions, motivations, and struggles of border crossers, as well as making the book more accessible to the average person who
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.
Immigration is a very dangerous and risky journey. Everyday immigrants try so hard to make it to the United States. This journey involves parents trying to support kids back home, families trying to start over, or kids trying to get to their mom; but some do not make it through this hardship. Those individuals, who make it, try like never before to support themselves and the family they needed to leave behind. Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario is a well written novel that uses many pathos, logos, and ethos examples. Each one of them is used effectively because of the way students are persuaded in believing there true. Elements from the quotes can reveal that Sonia is knowledgeable and
Violence and lack of jobs is all around the world. Immigration is often a result of this. Immigrants are forced to leave their homes based off many different factors. The reasons for immigration can easily be avoided and aided by those who are able. In The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, immigration is explored through Estevan and Esperanza, who have taken the journey from Guatemala to America due to various reasons. The immigrant experience is often characterized by violence and the need for jobs.
With the fast-paced globalization together with the heightening political economic issues of the world, it has brought forth the illegal immigrants to cross the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona, or as the anthropologist, Jason De León describes it, The Land of the Open Graves. However, there is more to unauthorized immigration than what meets the eye. Scratching the surface of the case of undocumented migrants reveals that it rooted from the intensifying global inequality and crisis of the world. Accordingly, the author’s decision to vividly depict the brutality beyond words the undocumented migrants had suffered while crossing the borders allows the readers to see the bigger picture behind illegal immigration, preventing further unnecessary deaths of the innocents.
What do we expect as a life of a Mexican migrant? The American public consistently listens to the media to these people crossing the border illegally, which is deemed as a crime. They see these people as stealing American jobs and benefiting from government programs such as welfare. Countless people think it was voluntary for them to come to the United State, therefore they deserve whatever comes their way, either health problems, racism or low paying jobs. However, what countless American people don’t realize is that the majority of Mexican migrants are forced to migrate to the United State 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 focus 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 in Oaxaca to farms in California and Washington. The book also emphasizes on how racism and health problems of migrant workers have become invisible. Their health problems and their social status in the social hierarchy are blamed on themselves because they decided to come to a place where they are seen as illegal aliens. Instead of blaming the Triqui people of their sickness, health care facilities need to treat them without judgement, address what exactly their sickness is as well as its structural causes.
The journey of many immigrants is characterized by trauma prior to, during, and following migration. They may be escaping hunger, war, poverty, or torture in their native country. The decision to migrate to host country is not an easy one for most immigrants. People leave behind family members, and often risk their lives to cross borders in order to live a life of freedom and opportunity. Immigrants must endure intolerance and suspicion, while navigating the complexities of assimilating to a language and a culture foreign to their own. If the person enters the country without proper documents, they live in constant fear of being detained and deported. Undocumented immigrants may have to accept jobs far below their skill level, and endure blatant discrimination. If Mario is an immigrant, his volatile behavior may be a result of acculturative stress or immigration trauma
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.
The ER is a place of constant, emotional unplanned change. As a team, we approach each situation with strength and determination. Negative attitudes does not exist within our group. We accustom our treatment to fit the needs of each individual patient. Emotional challenges are endured on a daily basis. We pull together as
Immigration is a heavy topic to address, but the authors of these articles have a way of putting a human face to these stories that help make the article more personal and understandable. In the article “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” the author talks about the story of an immigrant woman who lost her leg while on her way to America. The author begins to explain that the immigrant woman was trying to find work in America so she could support her four year old daughter back home. Archibold, author of “In Trek North, First Lure Is Mexico’s Other Line,” says, “[the woman] made it to Mexico and onto the train. But after it departed there were cries of “Migra!” — the immigration police — and a scramble that sent her tumbling under the train,” (Archibold 36.) The woman lost her leg, but all she could think about was staying alive for her four year old daughter. This story that archibold plants in the reader’s mind lets the reader understand the reason for why immigrants are so resilient into coming to America. The author for “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family” did the same thing as archibold. Sonia Nazario, author of “The Heartache of an Immigrant Family,” began to tell the story of Lourdes and her children. Sonia explains that, “Lourdes Pineda was the single mother of a 5-year-old
Both Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies and Pretty Modern acknowledge the term class, and the established social hierarchy and physical sufferings that comes from it, in many cultures. According to Schultz and Lavenda, class is defined as “a ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society whose membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation, or other economic criteria” (312). Ultimately, my goal is to demonstrate that while both ethnographies explore class, they do it in equally important, but different ways. Seth Holmes’ Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies is an account of the Triqui people and other Mexican migrant’s sufferings in U.S. farm labor camps. Alexander Edmonds’ Pretty Modern is an account of the booming plastic surgery market in Brazil, and the risks women take in order to modify themselves. Class is a rather fixed concept; it’s not easy to move between classes in most societies. While both ethnographies tell the tale of people trying to attain more wealth and a better occupation, the former does it in a way where class is perceived to be immovable, while the latter seems to heavily rely on the notion that you can climb the social ladder.
In the ethnographic text, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, by Seth Holmes, Holmes describes his experience on enduring the living and working conditions of migrant workers. Seth Holmes’ social positions and identities helped bring the ethnography forward by showcasing the stories of Triqui migrant workers and how they suffer in everyday life because of the cycle of suffering. On the other hand, Holmes risks credibility and validity as the ethnographic text is taken from his point of view as a white man rather than a Triqui worker’s. As the author of the ethnographic text, Seth Holmes takes an in-depth look inside the lives of the Triqui workers and the problems they encounter in the face of racism and the social, political, and economic
To begin, in the text, “Mexican Migrant Workers in the 20th Century,” the setting goes over how, “Workers continued to move to California and other southwest states,” explaining the location of most of the