Seth Holmes investigates the circumstances under which Mexican farmworkers arrive in the United States. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were two of the study methods that Holmes deployed to gather information about the social, economic, and political conditions that affect the lives of migrant workers. This article will examine how medical anthropology and globalization, two critical topics discussed in class, can be seen as illustrations of ethnography. The test scope covers up to and including the book’s first seven chapters. In these chapters, Holmes explores the global economic causes that motivate people to migrate and exploit workers in agriculture (Holmes, 2013). He also discusses the health concerns and injustices that migrant workers have to undergo. In this essay, I will address the connection between globalization and medical anthropology and how that connection affects the lives of Mexican migrant farmworkers working in the United States of America.
The medical anthropology discipline tries to comprehend the elements influencing health and wellness using social, cultural, biological, and linguistic anthropology. According to Seth Holmes, there is a need to care for people’s health and protect the environment so that it can generate more and give a conducive environment for conducting business. So, enhancing people’s quality of life is essential (Holmes, 2013). Holmes’s book exemplifies that Consideration must be given to the welfare of people who conduct direct labor during production. Workers are the frontline troops who ensure that consumable commodities have been created; hence their health is crucial.
The more extensive social and political systems that enable the lack of healthcare access are to blame. According to the textbook Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About People by Welsch and Vivanco, healthcare is influenced by larger economic and political. The authors highlight the expected influence of structural factors such as political ideology, wealth, and power on healthcare (Welsch& Vivanco, 2015). This is amply demonstrated in the book when Holmes discusses the market-based, business-driven American healthcare system. Contrary to common opinion, access to healthcare in the United States is limited to those who can afford it.
Bio-cultural adaptation is necessary because some diseases can weaken the immune systems of people who have not adapted to the local environment. This criterion should be heavily weighted to emphasize the need to recognize industrial workers. Many people risk their lives crossing borders for economic opportunities, but they often encounter impassable barricades and die. Finally, each person’s role in manufacturing is crucial. They must be healthy and able to give birth before defending their healthcare systems or themselves. Using a medical anthropological viewpoint to evaluate health and disease in underprivileged groups, such as migrant farmworkers, is illustrated by this book (Holmes, 2013). By considering the more comprehensive social and political factors that influence health outcomes, medical anthropologists can develop more complicated and practical solutions to improve the health and well-being of these individuals.
Globalization alters identities and lifestyles. Many US immigrants believe that being exposed to so many cultures has made them feel alienated from their own. However, “globalization has made it tougher for migrant workers to fight back or organize against it, while simultaneously making them easier to be exploited.” When analyzing its effects on development, some of the most critical components of globalization include its support of fair trade for developing nations, its technological advancement, and its international regulation and collaboration to prohibit transfer pricing and tax avoidance (Holmes, 2013). In terms of globalization and development, there is little to cheer about globalization and development as there are many investors in many producing nations but no development progress.
For Holmes, these are just some of the issues that arise when states are occupied by foreign powers that offer no tangible benefits in the form of aid for the occupied nations’ economic development. Seth Holmes alleges in the interview that other agricultural employees are subjected to prejudice and forced to pick fallen fruits. This assertion illustrates the unfair treatment of the workers since some were favored while others were not. Here is an illustration of how a privileged few benefit at the expense of the many. Discrimination against individuals based on their race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or gender is also an important issue.
We learn from this that the workers with dark skin were chosen to pick the fruits that had fallen to the ground. This is disrespectful in that it elevates those with lighter skin tones at the expense of others with darker skin tones. This is a racist tactic that will affect how things work overall because there will be winners and losers. The losers typically put forth the most labor, with the winners contributing less (Holmes, 2013). This act encourages payment imbalances, a problem requiring prompt agency response. After all that has been said, much work remains to be done. The only way to achieve this is to impose rigorous regulations and educate people about caring for one another.
The textbook by Welsch and Vivanco also addresses how globalization affects workers in developing nations. The authors argue that because of globalization, low-skilled employees from Mexico and other countries may now successfully compete in the job market (Welsch& Vivanco, 2015). There has been a pricing war due to businesses fighting for the cheapest labor. Employees are frequently subjected to risky working conditions, poor pay, and the possibility of being let go.
An examination of the lives of Mexican migrant workers in the United States, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. This demonstrates the inextricable link between medical anthropology and globalization. The author of this book argues that globalization has resulted in a healthcare system that exploits low-wage people to line the pockets of multinational corporations. This ethnography also serves as a potent reminder of the significance of situating health and illness in their broader social and cultural contexts and the effects of global capitalism on the margins of society.
References
Holmes, S. M. (2013). Fresh fruit, broken bodies: Migrant farmworkers in the United States. The University of California Press.
Welsch, R. L., & Vivanco, L. A. (2015). Cultural anthropology: Asking questions about humanity (p. 496). New York: Oxford University Press.
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