The Struggles of Migrant Farmworkers in the United States (Book Review)

A Migrant Farmworker Picking Strawberries
Location: Santa Maria, California

                       Book Summary

    There is a lot of information unknown to the general public about how the products they buy reach store shelves. In Seth M. Holmes' book titled Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States, he delves into the details of how migrant farmworkers survive, from taking the risk to cross the Mexico-U.S. border to sleeping in poorly-build shelters to earning the bare minimum to somewhat support their financial needs. Migrant farmworkers are stereotyped in a way that, "In much of the mainstream media, [they] are seen as deserving their fates, even untimely deaths, because they are understood to have chosen voluntarily to cross the border for their own economic gain" (Holmes 25). From taking the initiative to crossing the Mexico-U.S. border to experiencing life working on the fields, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies informs readers about false stereotypes of migrant workers and how they are important to the United States despite the harsh treatment they get from workers above them. 

Migrant Farmworkers Bending to Pick Strawberries

Content Evaluation

   Picking fruit is not as easy as it looks, which "the agriculture industry...continues to be one of the most dangerous [industries] in the private sector" (Kelkar). The pain that accumulates from such work takes a toll on workers in which they struggle to keep up with the capacity of what their bodies can do. Seth points out, "Knee, back, and hip pain are only a few of the ways in which the social context of migrant farmwork--especially living and working conditions--affects the bodies of my Triqui companions. These pains are examples of the structural violence of social hierarchies becoming embodied in the form of suffering and sickness....not only physical sickness but also mental, existential, and interpersonal anguish." (Holmes 89). Dealing with such pain, both physically and emotionally, adds a weight to farmworkers that hinders their performance at work. Farmworkers are capable of doing so much that dealing with stress from everything around them will only slow them down. Seth was able to experience the pain that migrant farmworkers go through on a daily basis by picking strawberries for two summers. Through his personal experiences, Seth has gained important insight into the root of the problems of migrant farmworkers in which he has tried to confront the problems. With the blame being pointed in all directions, Seth is struggling to comprehend the reasons behind why the migrant farmworkers are not being treated as equals to those above them.

Migrant Farmworkers Picking Eggplant
Location: Rancho Santa Fe, California

Recap/Conclusion

   Overall, Seth M. Holmes does a wonderful job of going the extra mile to write about migrant farmworkers, the struggles they constantly face, and what the general public should do to treat them better than being at the bottom. An important observation he made near the end of the book says, "The normalization of social inequalities occurred through the hiddenness of certain classes of bodies as well as through the subtle meanings of body position" (Holmes 182). It is through how the body is positioned, whether it is standing up and bending low to the ground, that the issue of mistreatment within select workers is brought to light. Why should workers that get to stand have the privilege to degrade those that constantly have to bend down to pick fruits? As humans, we should never degrade others. We should all be treated as equals because it is how we are able to get along easily. Unnecessarily comparing others in a way that puts them down shows how we do a poor job of calling out those that are to blame for such disrespect. This story revolves around the problems of the agriculture industry for migrant farmworkers and how workers above them are not facing consequences for treating the workers below them poorly. Embedded below is a YouTube video that is approximately seven minutes long and talks about how migrant farmworkers make important contributions with the work that they put in. At the same time, their hard work is going unnoticed as many Americans are blinded by what they go through on a daily basis. Although the video does not cover immigration like the book does, I decided to include this video because it resembles similarities with the book content in which both sources address the effort migrant farmworkers are putting into their jobs, persevering through pain from uncomfortable positions and receiving low pay for working hard. 

Invisible America: The Migrant Story

Works Cited

Gonzalez, Michelle. “Fruits of Oppression: Plight of Migrant Farmworkers at Center of Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies.” National Catholic Reporter, National Catholic Reporter, 28 Aug. 2013, www.ncronline.org/books/2017/08/fruits-oppression-plight-migrant-farmworkers-center-fresh-fruit-broken-bodies. Accessed 2 May 2021.

Grigsby, Susan. "About That Fresh Fruit You Love so Much." Daily Kos, Daily Kos, 28 Feb. 2016, www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/28/1489938/-About-that-fresh-fruit-you-love-so-much. Accessed 2 May 2021.

Holmes, Seth M. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States. University of California Press, 2013. Accessed 2 May 2021.

"Invisible America: The Migrant Story." YouTube, uploaded by Logan V., 27 July 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=15QFm0qeAlk&feature=youtu.be. Accessed 2 May 2021.

Kelkar, Kamala. "When Labor Laws Left Farm Workers behind - and Vulnerable to Abuse." PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 Sept. 2016, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/labor-laws-left-farm-workers-behind-vulnerable-abuse. Accessed 2 May 2021.