Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States

Holmes’s use of the first person is both a narrative and methodological technique. How did this technique enhance the impact of his observations?

Holmes profiles three Indigenous workers in his book: Abelino, Crescencio, and Bernardo. What do the profiles reveal about the suffering of migrants? Why did Holmes include all three in his book?

What is the primary cause of labor migration from Mexico to the US? What local and global conditions fuel movement across the border?

Taking ethnicity, race, and class into account, discuss the structures that reproduce and naturalize the ethnicity and citizenship hierarchy of the Tanaka Brothers Farm.

Address the ways that structural and symbolic violence combine to create and exacerbate the suffering of Triqui laborers.

Discuss how stereotypes and perceptions impact the quality of care that Indigenous Mexicans receive in San Miguel, Oaxaca, Mexico and Washington State’s Skagit Valley in the US.

What is pragmatic solidarity? How does the concept relate to Holmes’s view of the role of academic researchers?

What actions can individuals and organizations take to help ease the suffering of migrant farmworkers?