## "Oaxacans Like to Work Bent Over": Naturalization of Social Suffering Among Berry Farm Workers This study explores the social suffering and symbolic violence experienced by undocumented Triqui indigenous Mexican berry pickers in a Washington State farm. It examines the ethnic, citizenship, and suffering hierarchies within US agriculture and how these inequalities become normalized and naturalized. ### Farm Labor Hierarchy: From Executive to Picker The farm's labor is structured in a hierarchical manner, reflecting broader societal inequalities based on race, citizenship, and class. * **Top Executives:** Primarily third-generation Japanese-American family members and Anglo professionals. They work long hours, have private offices, and comfortable homes. Their primary concern is farm survival in a competitive market. John Tanaka, the farm president, highlights the challenges of competing with lower labor costs in other countries like China. * **Crop Managers:** Anglo-Americans with private offices in the field house. They oversee field operations and work long hours with less flexibility than executives. * **Administrative Assistants & Teenagers:** Primarily white, with a few Latino-American citizens. They perform administrative tasks and weigh berries, respectively. Sally, an administrative assistant, describes feeling disrespected by her superiors and treated poorly. * **Berry Pickers:** Primarily undocumented Mexican workers, with Triqui indigenous people at the bottom. They live in substandard labor camps and face harsh working conditions. Marcelina, a Triqui woman, describes the difficulties of working long hours for low pay, facing theft and verbal abuse. The hierarchy is not a conscious design but a result of structural forces. ### Ethnicity and Citizenship Hierarchies at Work The labor hierarchy correlates strongly with ethnicity and citizenship: 1. White and Asian-American US citizens 2. Latino US citizens or residents 3. Undocumented mestizo Mexicans 4. Undocumented indigenous Mexicans (Triqui at the bottom) The perceived indigeneity plays a role, with Triqui people seen as more "simple" and less capable than Mixtecos. It's crucial to understand that this hierarchy isn't intentional but a product of systemic inequalities. Undocumented workers face additional challenges: * Lower pay due to their position and the costs of crossing the border. * Inability to access social security and other benefits despite paying taxes. * Increased vulnerability to exploitation and abuse. ### Hierarchy of Suffering The labor hierarchy directly maps onto a hierarchy of suffering: * Lower positions mean more degrading treatment, physically demanding work, greater exposure to elements and pesticides, increased fear of government, and less control over time. Triqui strawberry pickers face immense pressure to meet minimum weight requirements, leading to health problems like gastritis, headaches, and musculoskeletal pain. Abelino's knee injury highlights the lack of support and access to proper medical care for undocumented workers. Crescencio's headaches, triggered by workplace abuse, lead to self-destructive coping mechanisms like excessive alcohol consumption. ### Gray Zones: Farm and Clinic The farm and the migrant clinic represent "gray zones" where responsibility for suffering is unclear. * **Farm:** While executives strive for ethical practices, market pressures force them into complicity with a system that perpetuates suffering. The farm's unofficial exclusion of pickers from English classes exemplifies collective bad faith. * **Clinic:** Clinicians, despite good intentions, often lack the training to see the social determinants of health. They may inadvertently blame patients for their suffering, prescribing ineffective treatments that reinforce existing inequalities. The clinical gaze focuses on the individual body, neglecting the social context. The biopsychosocial model of health, while aiming to broaden understanding, can become unbalanced, leading to blaming patients for their circumstances. ### Silence and Resistance The Triqui workers rarely openly challenge the inequalities they face due to fear of deportation and distrust of outside organizers. A spontaneous strike, triggered by a pay cut, highlights the workers' limited but powerful resistance. The strike resulted in some improvements, but lasting change proved elusive due to ongoing systemic issues and distrust of external organizations. ### Naturalization and Internalization: Symbolic Violence The inequalities are naturalized through symbolic violence: * **Perceived bodily differences:** Oaxacans are seen as naturally suited for bending over, while mestizos are not. * **Ethnic pride:** Triqui workers internalize their position, finding pride in their strength and resilience, which ironically reinforces their exploitation. * **Imputed humanity:** Body positions in labor are linked to moral character, with those in the lowest positions dehumanized. Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence helps explain how social asymmetries become invisible and accepted as natural. ### Conclusion: Towards Pragmatic Solidarity Addressing the social suffering requires a multi-pronged approach: * **Denaturalizing inequalities:** Challenging the perceptions that make inequalities seem natural. * **Pragmatic solidarity:** Joining the struggles of oppressed people, working at all levels from micro to macro. * **Policy change:** Addressing the political and economic factors driving migration. A fair temporary worker program is crucial, ensuring worker mobility and preventing exploitation. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for systemic change to address the root causes of the suffering experienced by migrant workers.