Migrant Worker Health Flashcards
1
Q
Migrant Farmwork in US
A
5 to 10 million undocumented immigrants
95% of U.S. agricultural workers were born in Mexico, 52% in U.S. as undocumented workers
NAFTA
Proposition 187 in California
2
Q
Neoliberalism
A
A political perspective that promotes individual freedom, open markets, and free trade while opposing strong state involvement in personal and economic affairs.
3
Q
Cultural capital
A
- Consists of the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech and dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society.
- Appreciating things like fine art or food, beginning in childhood. Can also be purchased, like a university education
- Reproduces class distinctions
4
Q
Structural violence
A
- Political and economic forces structure risk for certain members of the population
- Often falls along certain categories (gender, class, race, sexuality)
5
Q
Symbolic violence
A
- Naturalization of social inequalities
- Both dominators and dominated see themselves as ‘naturally’ belonging in their positions in society
6
Q
Political violence
A
Physical violence conducted by authorities and people who oppose them
7
Q
Medical gaze
A
- Late 18th century, the process of physical dissection made it possible to certify visually knowledge about the body
- This meant that what used to mark the beginning of the doctor-patient dialogue, “What is the matter with you?’ …was replaced by that other question: ‘Where does it hurt?’” (Foucault 1975:xviii)
- Transition from medicine of symptoms to medicine of organs, sites and causes
8
Q
What does the medical gaze mean for patients and how does it relate to Holmes?
A
- A medical gaze means that doctors tend to objectify their patients rather than seeing the individual as a person with complex history and connected to socio-cultural environments
- Produces a “myopic vision” that focuses on “the pathology, the organ, the lesion” (Boyce in Holmes 2013:115)
- Holmes frames Ch. 5 around the concept of the gaze
9
Q
Witnessing
A
- Contrary to the ‘gaze’, some medical practitioners try to understand the whole lives of the patient
- Idea of engaging with the person and “bearing witness” to their suffering
- Some of the health care workers that Holmes interviews and observes are able to do this, but it is challenging
10
Q
Abelino’s knee as structural violence
A
- Suffers knee injury on the job
- Is able to obtain short-term worker’s compensation, but many challenges with it (language, compensation amount)
- Is at times blamed for his own suffering and his test results are seen as more important indicators of his status than his self-reports
- Cannot be reduced to “light duty” farm work, cannot receive guarantee for next year’s contract
- Structural violence places Abelino at the bottom of labour hierarchy where only most dangerous and back-breaking work is available
- Structural violence also affects Abelino’s health care workers
11
Q
Crescensio’s headaches as symbolic violence
A
- Headaches spanning 7 years, same length of time of migrant labour
- Triggered by insults and reprimands (often racist) by people of higher status
- His attempt to get treatment is misconceived as a confession of domestic assault
- Alcoholism as panacea leads to confirmation of the stereotype of “drunk Mexican” which in turn, justifies racist treatment
12
Q
Bernardo’s stomach problems as political violence
A
- Ongoing stomach issues resulting from working so hard “all his life” (Veracruz, California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska)
- Was kidnapped, beaten and imprisoned for several months by the Mexican military (funded by U.S. DEA)
- His diagnosis by medical practitioner in U.S. is confused because of poor language translation
- His diagnosis by medical practitioner in Mexico is blamed on culture and behaviour
13
Q
Migrant worker health care in US
A
- May not have funding for clinics or for services
- Providing care in languages that are not the patients’
- Workers have incomplete charts because always on the move
- Health care providers lack awareness of social forces shaping migrant labour
- Racist ideas about migrant workers
14
Q
Migrant worker health care in Mexico
A
- Required service or placement in communities
- May not speak Triqui language
- “Culture and customs” blamed for non-compliance
- Lack awareness of social forces shaping migrant labour
- Racist ideas about Triqui people (e.g. “timeless” people)
15
Q
Migrant farm work in Canada (SAWP)
A
- 40 000 migrant workers across Canada in 2012
- Primary program = SAWP (Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program)
- SAWP began in 1966 as pilot program for Ontario’s growing agriculture sector
- In 2012, 30 000 workers from Mexico and Commonwealth Caribbean countries, particularly Jamaica
- BC joined SAWP in 2004, starting with 855 workers
In 2014, 6600 workers on BC farms, 2000 of whom came to the Okanagan
