Located in the southeastern section of Mexico, right along the Pacific Ocean, lies the diverse Mexican state of Oaxaca. Due to the “sixteen ethno linguistic groups [that were able to] maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions” (Schmal), Oaxaca is by far one of them most ethically complex states in Mexico. In fact, Oaxaca is heavily dominated by the Zapotec and Mixtec people, which are the two largest groups in Oaxaca. However, globalization has recently impacted the greater city of Oaxaca and its inhabitants more than ever. Western goods, services, ideas, values and media have impacted areas all around the world and Oaxaca, Mexico has seen its effects first handed. Globalization has deeply impacted small …show more content…
In most cases, these needs “are often economical—the household head is searching for higher wages, the physical household is in need of repair, or the goods and services that the members of a household desire are beyond the means of those individuals as defined by local wage work” (Cohen). The drive to look for new opportunities based on needs is constantly being pushed on the citizens of Mexico to this very day.
The migration of individuals has been deeply rooted in Mexico’s culture. Ever since the “expansion of cattle ranches in the Southwest and the increase of fruit production in California in 1850 and 1880,” the need to import foreign manual labor has increased in the United States. In fact, Mexicans support a vast majority of American agriculture. In general, the importation of Mexican laborers began with the construction of railroads between the US and Mexico. Added to this, the time following the Mexican Revolution in 1910 combined with the beginnings of World War 1, pushed for an influx of Mexican immigrants into the United States. Due to the fact that employment was scarce in Mexico and “Mexican workers performed well in the industry and service fields…these years were ripe with employment opportunities for Mexicans because much of the US labor force was overseas fighting” (Mexican Immigrant History). In addition, the Bracero Program of 1942, a contract made by Mexico and the
In Harvest of Empire’s “Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type” Juan Gonzalez outlines how Mexican descendants contributed to U.S. prosperity and culture. Gonzalez’s assertion is that the Mexicans and their culture have been in the United States long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the establishment of settlements and trade along the Rio Grande by Mexican pioneers, and the important factor Mexican-American workforce had in the nation. He supports his argument using historical records, individual’s stories and local papers. Respectively, Gonzales provides information that Mexicans greatly affected the economic uprising and culture of United States across the border.
The book ‘Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network’ by Ruth Gomberg-Munoz explains the hardships that surround the Mexican immigrant network. Over the years the ‘undocumented’ workers coming to America from Mexico has increased which has gained the attention of the American government and the media, as it is ‘illegal behavior’. Gomberg-Munoz attempts to create an understanding of the lives of these workers by telling individual’s personal stories. The author reports the workers undocumented lives rather than reviewing their status as this is already covered in society. The author’s main topic revolves around the principle that undocumented workers strive to improve their quality of life by finding employment in the United States (Gomberg-Munoz 9). Gomberg Munoz also presents the daily struggles the works face daily, and how these struggles “deprives them of meaningful choice and agency” which effects their opportunity and futures (Gomberg-Munoz 9). This ethnography shows their social identities through work, the reasons why their position is illegal and how they live their everyday lives under the circumstances.
García’s book can be very dense at times, providing the reader with many numbers, graphs, and statistics. Nevertheless, these statistics provide the reader with a better understanding on how El Paso was being shaped by Mexican immigrants; it also provides a new light on immigration during the nineteen and twentieth century’s in the United States. Many times Mexican immigration is overlooked, and thought of, as a recent event, when people think of nineteenth century immigration many think of the European immigration into the United States, yet García’s study shows that people were
In the early sixteenth century, Spain conquered Mexico and turned it into one of their most lucrative colonies. In the search for land, labor and natural resources, Spain found everything they were looking for in Mexico. During the colonial period, Mexico was simply another kingdom of the vast Spanish Empire. As Spain largely benefited, the indigenous civilizations of Mexico were ravaged and left to be entirely dependent on their foreign counterpart. It wasn’t until the independence movement in the early nineteenth century that Mexico seemed to have some hope of being released from the hands of imperialism. Unfortunately, following independence, Mexico suffered from a half a century of economic
The book chosen for this analytical report is A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and its War with the United States by Dr. Timothy J. Henderson. Dr. Henderson is currently the Department Chair, for the Department of History at Auburn University Montgomery. Dr. Henderson’s specialization is in Latin American History, concentrating heavily on Mexican and U.S. – Latin American relations. Dr. Henderson has majored in Latin American Studies for both his Master of Arts degree and Ph.D. studies, and has eight different awards and honors throughout his career. He has written over 10 publications, with his latest being released in 2011. Dr. Henderson is currently researching the several aspects of Mexican migration to the United States.
Holmes’ purpose in conducting his fieldwork with the migrant workers (specifically the Triqui of Mexico) of California and Washington fruit agriculture was to gain understanding from a perspective many do not consider and that has not been assessed in this way before. Similarly, the goal of this book was to pass that understanding to the common reader, the average American, those who are affected directly and those who are believe they are unaffected by the migrants of American agriculture—and to distinguish that they are not unaffected. Doing so creates the potential for change, even if by only a small factor like
The Bracero Program was a temporary contract labor program initiated in 1942 by the United States and Mexico. Designed originally to bring a experienced Mexican agricultural laborers to harvest sugar beets in Stockton, California, but soon spread to most of the United States and to the railroad industry. Although the railroad program ended in 1945, after World War II the agricultural program continued until 1964. Originally, the program was designed to protect the illegal migrant workers against the exploitation by American farmers. However, it was criticized and was viewed as a failure from the humanitarian point of view.
War creates all kinds of hardships on everyone involved whether it is overseas on the front line or right in our own backyard. During World War II one hardship faced in the United States was the lack of laborers to work the land and other taxing jobs here in the United States. The solution, bring migrant workers from Mexico to complete the work; otherwise known as the Bracero Program. What is the American and Mexican history leading up to the Bracero program? Were these workers paid fair, were they treated fair, and did they benefit in the long term?
While many remember the Great Depression as a time of terrible trials for Americans, few understand the hardships faced by Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the U.S. This paper examines the experiences of Mexicans in America during the Great Depression and explores the devastating impact of repatriation efforts. America has an extensive history of accepting Mexican workers when they are needed for cheap labor, and demanding that they be deported when the economic situation is more precarious in an attempt to open jobs for Americans. In the 1930s, “Americans, reeling from the economic disorientation of the depression, sought a convenient scapegoat. They found it in the Mexican community.” Mexicans were blamed for economic hardships
Many Mexican Americans have been able to accomplish their own versions of the American dream by attending a 4-year college, owning businesses, and taking on political and public service careers. However, Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants continue to face the hardships that their ancestors went through in the 20th century. The ethnic Mexican experience in the United States has been a difficult one for Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans of the first generation. Two key factors that continue to shape the lives of Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants are labor laws and the citizenship process. Focusing on the research, statistics, and information provided by Mai Ngai “The Architecture of Race in American Immigration”, Natalia Molina’s, “In a Race All Their Own": The Quest to Make Mexicans Ineligible for U.S. Citizenship”, and George J. Sanchez, “Becoming Mexican American” will provide the cause and effect of labor laws and citizenship laws that made an impact on the lives of Mexicans during the 20th century.
Hispanics have been immigrating to America since the beginning of the Spanish Colonial era. Up until the 1920’s Mexican Americans have boomed in rural places in america. The 1920’s was meeting the beginning of a renaissance, a better promised life for both native americans as well as immigrants. Businesses were booming, wages were higher, and the industry was creating a bright future for America. However, Mexican Americans continued to face hardships as well as few successes leading up to the 1920’s. Whether these were Native born Americans with a Hispanic background or newly immigrated Mexicans, Mexican Americans faced the hardship of poverty, discrimination, segregation, and struggles during the 1920’s.
Mexican American’s are one of the largest ethnic group in America today average of more than half of the populace; nearly reaching more than 30 million in the United States alone. Compassed by these immigrants more than half are here illegally that migrated over to the United States in search of a better living. Moreover, others are here as original citizens, or of the group that was given naturalization. Thus, taking place in deliberation of the colonial era, in the mid 1920’s, where increasingly moor Mexican’s foreigners have crossed our
As the population of Latin America and the Caribbean raised in 1995 with a 190 percent increase (Gonzalez 199), the job markets in Mexico are becoming scarce and competitive. The living conditions of residents in provincial towns like in Cheran, “whose timber-based economy is in tatters” (Martinez 9) are greatly affected. Mexican immigrant workers are forced to cross the border and find a greener pasture in the United States, because “in 1994, Mexico was crippled by a profound-and-prolonged-economic crisis” (Martinez 8). With the huge influx of Mexican immigrant workers coming to the States in search for better jobs, the US citizens are concerned about the economic impact: jobs, government and public services. However, the Americans’ concern that the immigrants are draining the nation’s resources, is a sweeping statement, it is based on a myth. There are many recent studies that the immigrant’s population living in the United States helps the economy. Similarly, the Mexican government and immigrant families are grateful for their immigrant workers for lifting the ailing economy and the status of immigrant families. Immigrant workers, legal or illegal, are positively reshaping the economy of sending and receiving countries through these major myths.
a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This
Like an enormous living museum, Mexico City provides an extraordinary showplace for the thousands of years of human cultural achievement that Mexico has attained. It ranks as one of the world's great capitals and is a must for anyone craving to understand Mexico's complex past, its fast-paced present, and its ever challenging future. The size and grandeur of the city are staggering. It is not only the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere, but, by some accounts, has also become the largest city in the world. Before we look at present day Mexico City, let us look into it deep and storied past.