This dissertation examines an important, but understudied period in Mexican-U.S. migration history during the 1940s and early 1950s. The joint introduction and sanctioning, by the U.S. and Mexican governments, of the bracero program also initiated a large illegal migration of agricultural workers to the United States. This was a period characterized by high levels of temporary legal migration and illegal migration, as well as intense levels of immigration enforcement. These simultaneous processes confound a simplistic view of U.S. history as a sequence of alternating periods of immigration expansion and restriction. U.S. immigration law and policy does not resemble a pendulum swinging first one way then the other; rather, both expansion and restriction characterized the 1940s and early 1950s. This study focuses on South Texas and El Paso, both border regions with dominant agricultural economies as well as a significant presence of Border Patrol officers. By focusing on these border regions, this dissertation examines the relationship between immigration laws and policy and the agricultural labor relations between growers and workers on the ground. This dissertation is concerned with state formation on the U.S.-Mexico border, and its relationship with labor mobility. The process of state and border formation did not originate in the central seats of federal authority, Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, to be applied and exerted on the furthest reaches of their territories. Growers and workers created, negotiated, and experienced and challenged the power and meaning of the border in the agricultural fields during daily interactions. Individual Border Patrolman made the border every day in the choices they made about where and where not to patrol, and which friendships to make and maintain. The border was simultaneously a federal and a local space. As the introductory anecdote suggested, the different sites of power were continually at work and intertwined. The Border Patrol did not have to be present to have an effect on the power dynamics in the moment. These interconnecting authorities, each shaping the other, and workers negotiations of such dynamics are what I term the social space of agriculture on the border. Growers often projected themselves in opposition to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and government intervention, arguing that it disrupted their access to Mexican laborers. In truth, the presence of the Border Patrol, and the threat of deportation the police force carried, was crucial in shaping the social space of agricultural production and securing growers’ undocumented labor force. / text

Known for its fertile soil and ideal climate, California has been one of the most agriculturally productive areas in the world. Often left out of this picture are the farmworkers who make it possible. Within this farmworker community, females are a sub-class that has been even more marginalized. This thesis investigates the gendered aspects of fieldwork and exposes female leadership working towards changing these specific struggles, such as sexual harassment in the fields, domestic abuse, pesticide exposure, and the perpetuation of submissive gender roles in the household and workplace. An in-depth case study of Lideres Campesinas, a community- based grassroots organization, is highlighted in order to share members’ stories and explore how an organization run by women farmworkers addresses gendered issues in the fields. A discourse on these obstacles will begin specifically in the fields of Coachella Valley.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T18:01:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_FabianoSilvaRocha.pdf: 6036893 bytes, checksum: b670ab9131dc028000fa7b0790fffafd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-30 / FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA E AO DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTIFICO E TECNOLÓGICO DO MARANHÃO / The present paper comprehends a field study of the economic life of the inhabitants of Cariongo village in Santa Rita/MA. For the undertaking of this research we made use of a method which contemplated both qualitative and quantitative data analyses in loco observation and statistics thus, allowing us to interpret that the inhabitants of that village face a situation of crisis in the production of manioc flour, precisely, for having their right to farm their lands revoked by the INCRA, which had intervened in an agrarian conflict between the inhabitants and local grileiros . Therefore, it occurred to us that the inhabitants of Cariongo are now undergoing what we identified as a process of reconfiguration of their economic behavior. The interpretations made thereof were basically conducted by the theoretical and methodological orientation of the economic sociology of Karl Polanyi and Max Weber, apart from the analytical discussion on subsistence economies highlighting the historians Fernand Braudel and Immanuel Wallerstein who defend a rather contrary perspective to that of the neoclassical economic theory in the face of the expansion of the historical capitalism world economy. Thus, the economic field is the ultimate point of the present research and practically of the entire debate, however, there is no intention of limiting the discussion to this field alone, this way, the focus on that social reality also takes into consideration its relation to both political and cultural fields (with analysis of the educational capital) precisely given that we understand the multiple dimensions of social life as undoubtedly inseparable aspects, yet it is not about harmonious relations, the social realm is one of struggle between the agents, a realm of contention between those who dominate and those who are dominated. In regard to this analysis of the political and cultural fields we made use of the theoretical propositions of Pierre Bourdieu with his notion of domination and symbolic violence as means of appropriation of both economic and cultural capital. / Este trabalho ocupa-se de um estudo de campo sobre a vida econômica dos moradores da Vila Cariongo, em Santa Rita/MA. Para a realização desta pesquisa utilizamos o método misto quali-quanti observação in loco e estatística , desta maneira, tornou-se possível interpretar que os moradores daquela Vila enfrentam uma situação de crise da produção de farinha de mandioca, justamente por terem suas terras agricultáveis interditadas pelo INCRA, este que intermediou um conflito agrário entre moradores e grileiros locais . Diante deste problema, percebemos que os moradores do Cariongo enfrentam o que identificamos como um processo de reconfiguração dos comportamentos econômicos. As interpretações aqui realizadas foram conduzidas basicamente pelas orientações teórico-metodológicas da sociologia econômica de Karl Polanyi e Max Weber, além da discussão analítica sobre as economias de subsistência, com destaque aos historiadores Fernand Braudel e Immanuel Wallerstein que defendem uma posição contrária à teoria econômica neoclássica frente à expansão da economia-mundo do capitalismo histórico. Neste sentido, o campo econômico é o ponto nevrálgico da pesquisa e de praticamente todo o debate, no entanto, não há o intuito de reduzir a discussão a este único campo, sendo assim, o enfoque sobre aquela realidade social também considera a sua relação com o campo político e o campo cultural (com análise do capital escolar), justamente por entendermos as múltiplas dimensões da vida social como aspectos indubitavelmente inseparáveis, contudo não se trata de relações harmônicas, o espaço social é o espaço de lutas entre os agentes, o espaço de disputas entre dominantes e dominados. No que se refere a esta análise do campo político e do campo cultural fez-se uso das proposições teóricas de Pierre Bourdieu com a sua noção de dominação e violência simbólica enquanto mecanismos de apropriação do capital econômico e do capital cultural.

En 2008, la Banque mondiale a consacré son « rapport annuel sur le développement » à l'agriculture. Cela n’avait plus été le cas depuis 25 ans. Elle y montre que la croissance agricole est plus efficace que celle d’autres secteurs pour réduire la pauvreté. La productivité du travail agricole des actifs agricoles y est paradoxalement à peine citée : ses facteurs explicatifs de court terme comme ses variables structurantes sur le long terme ne sont pas analysés. Cette thèse entend contribuer à une meilleure compréhension des relations dynamiques qu’entretiennent la démographie et le développement non agricole avec le développement agricole (élévation de la productivité du travail agricole). Sous quelles conditions démo-économiques la transformation structurelle d'une économie (baisse du poids relatif du secteur agricole dans l’économie (actifs et valeur ajoutée)) peut-elle s'accompagner d'un développement agricole ? Alors qu’un secteur industriel ou tertiaire qui se développe est généralement attracteur d’actifs, une loi inverse existe-t-elle pour le secteur agricole ? Celui-ci doit-il nécessairement se vider de ses actifs pour se développer ? Y’a-t-il jamais eu, et peut-il y avoir développement agricole dans un contexte de croissance continue du nombre des actifs agricoles ?Notre (hypo)thèse principale est que la combinaison dynamique des facteurs «terre » et «actif agricole », dont la résultante est la « surface travaillée par actif agricole », est la véritable clé du développement agricole, davantage que la productivité de la terre. Nous analysons les déterminants des niveaux et taux de croissance de la productivité du travail agricole au cours de la période 1980 - 2007, à différentes échelles géographiques. Une attention particulière est mise sur la variable « nombre d’actifs agricoles », à l'aide de différents jeux de données (internationales, nationales, données d’enquêtes de terrain), à différentes échelles (monde, Mexique, 31 états fédérés et 2400 Municipes mexicains) et avec diverses méthodes (décomposition factorielle, cartes, classifications ascendantes hiérarchiques, inférence statistique, enquêtes de terrain auprès de ménages agricoles, non agricoles, d’institutions). Au niveau mondial, nous mettons en évidence une « course de vitesse » entre actifs agricoles et terre dans certaines régions du monde et proposons le concept de «transition agricole démographique » ainsi que sa typologie associée. Le Mexique est ensuite choisi pour ses agricultures présentant des niveaux de développement très contrastés, en synchronie comme en diachronie. Nous cherchons à expliquer les différences de trajectoires de développement agricole observées au Mexique. Nous analysons l’influence de variables caractérisant l’économie non agricole, la substitution du capital machine au travail, la libéralisation foncière, la géographie (physique et humaine). Dans les comparaisons internationales comme au Mexique, nous montrons que le taux de croissance de la surface par actif agricole a une influence marginale plus forte sur le taux de croissance de la productivité du travail agricole, que le taux de croissance de la productivité de la terre. Enfin, nous analysons les stratégies économiques de ménages et actifs agricoles, du Municipe de Teopisca dans la région de Los Altos de Chiapas, « piégés » dans un contexte de « transition agricole démographique bloquée » (décroissance tendancielle de la surface travaillée par actif) : diversification des sources de revenus (vers le non agricole) et tentatives d’élévation de la productivité de la terre sont les deux principales stratégies déployées sous contraintes de défaillances des marchés (travail, crédit) et d’accès à l’eau d’irrigation. / In 2008, the World Bank has dedicated its "Annual Report on Development" to agriculture. This had not been the case for 25 years. It shows that agricultural growth is more effective than other sectors to reduce poverty. The agricultural labor productivity of the agricultural workforce is paradoxically barely mentioned: its explanatory factors for the short term as its structural variables in the long term are not analyzed. This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between demography and non-agricultural development with agricultural development (increased productivity of agricultural labor). Under what demo-economic conditions can the structural transformation of an economy (i.e. the decline in the relative weight of the agricultural sector in the economy (workers and value added)) be accompanied by agricultural development? While an industrial or service sector that develops generally attracts workers, is there an opposite relationship in the agricultural sector? Does the agricultural sector have to lose its workers to develop? Has an agricultural sector ever developed in a context of continuous growth in the number of agricultural workers? Our main (hypo)thesis is that the dynamic combination of factors « land » and « agricultural worker », whose resultant is the « agricultural area worked per agricultural worker », is the real key to agricultural development, more than the productivity of the land.We analyze the determinants of the level and of the growth rate of the agricultural labor productivity over the 1980-2007 period, at different geographical levels. Special focus is put on the evolution of the « number of agricultural workers », using different sets of data (international, national, field surveys data), at different scales (world, Mexico, and 31 federal states 2400 Mexican municipalities) and with various methods (factor decomposition, maps, hierarchical ascending classifications, statistical inference, field surveys of farming households).Globally, we highlight a « race » between land and the number of agricultural workers in certain regions of the world and propose the concept of « demographic transition agriculture » and its associated typology.Mexico is then chosen for its agriculture showing very contrasting levels of development, for both synchronic and diachronic observation. We seek to understand the differences in agricultural development paths observed in Mexico by analyzing the influence of variables characterizing the non-farm economy, the substitution of machinery capital for labor, land liberalization, geography (physical and human).In international comparisons as within Mexico, we show that the growth rate of the area by agricultural worker has a marginally stronger influence on the growth rate of agricultural labor productivity, than the growth rate of land productivity.Finally, in the Municipality of Teopisca in the Los Altos region of Chiapas, we analyze the economic strategies of farm households « trapped » in a context of « blocked demographic agricultural transition » (downward trend of the agricultural area per worker): income diversification (toward the non-agricultural sector) and attempts to rise the land productivity are the two main strategies deployed under local severe constraints of market failures (labor, credit) and difficult access to irrigation water.