Some of the challenges that the migrants face has been associated with the immigration status (legal documentation) and this place the Latinos families at a great disadvantage because of fear getting on the wrong side of the law. Latino families face financial difficulties which at times are not dissolved because of the low wages that they are paid; they have to work extra hard and over time to be able to meet their basic daily needs. This can also be related to legal documentation; because they are hired illegally thus the pay is low.
Language and cultural barriers also pose as a great challenge. Integration of migrants’ children into schools has not been easy. Language barrier has contributed to the parents not being able to get better paying jobs for their advancement but seek to work in the farms that pay low wages. Low wages also come as a result of the employer’s tax evasion and inhibiting the formations of migrant farm workers union. The migrant workers also suffer from health issues related to the type of chemicals they use in the farms and at times this has resulted to death, due to the employers not following the state and federal regulations.
Latino migrants cannot stay silent and ignore that
discrimination and exclusion does not exist yet it affects them. Difference in
language and culture has led to ethnic and racial profiling of Latinos. In the
article it has been noted that even in schools, the students are grouped with
special needs children because of lack of bilingual teachers .Migrant children are
assumed not to be at the same level with the rest of the students. Racial and
ethnic profiling in the work place and educational settings impact on the
mental health of Latino migrants and extended social support for migrants can
help improve on mental health.
Despite all the challenges Latino migrants face, they still
work hard and adapt to the society that they migrate into. The concept of hard
work is reinforced this is a result of the cultural values that Latinos have
that encourage collectivism and taking care of each other. The migrant families
acknowledge that even with low paying wages they have been able to make a
difference and advance into better living conditions. This does not mean that
the challenges should be ignored but the level of oppression that they undergo
should be addressed and change be effected. Racial and ethnic profiling has
made Latinos invisible but they can be made visible by being included in
research.
Case of Latino migrants’ families gives us an insight of how
life can be for migrants in the US. The challenges that the article identifies
can also be noted to affect different migrants groups. This article gives us
direction on what can be done to prevent oppression on migrant families by
identifying the problems and giving out possible solutions.
Article link:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40005319?uid=3739736&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102809977753
I really appreciated the methods of the study “Learning from the Life Experiences of Mexican Origin Migrant Families.” Not only is looking at migrant families a under researched topic, but looking at it from a long term perspective can be very helpful. When looking at the a single harvest season alone could miss serious findings because you are focusing on a fixed point in time. By looking at a multiple years, the research was able to explore themes that develop over time. One topic that was need to be explored more though this research was resiliency. “Walsh stated that an alternative for achieving resilience consist of families being able to change their belief systems in order to make meaning of adversity (Ruben Parra Cardona et al. 363). If researchers only focused on one of the harvest they might not have seen the resiliency if the year was a good one, or would have only seen one bad side of the harvest.
ReplyDeleteOne of the parts of the article I wanted the researchers to go more in depth in was how to two coding areas of “Trabajando duro” and “moving up in life” relationship to the boothstrap myth in American culture. The authors discuss that the moving up in life “should not be understood based on the myth of “free will,” which considers that success in life results exclusively from individual effort” (Ruben Parra Cardona et al. 373). After reading the article I am still unclear how these ideas work separately from the bootstrap myth where working hard will help you to attain life goals or gain social capital. I am also curious as to how these myths that center on working hard are utilized by families when they fall on hard times, or when their employers let them go. Do they feel as though they didn’t work hard enough? Or do they understand that the system does not work in their favor because of privilege and oppression?
I really liked how the authors of "Learning from the Life Experiences of Mexican Origin Migrant Families" unpacks specific ideas and theories in regard to the research (363). Understanding how Developmental Systems Theory, the idea that "there is no single or ideal developmental trajectory for any person because the nature of interactions between the individuals and the diverse environments in which they live result in multiple development paths," allows the reader to understand how different environments affect people differently and can have negative and positive outcomes. Latino cultural values also served as a foregrounding piece that I found helpful before diving into the methods of the paper.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that could have made this article stronger would be an analysis of intersectionality and how the different identity factors of the women participants impacts their lived experiences. Throughout reading this article, I felt as though there needed to be more analysis of how all of these identity factors intersect.
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ReplyDeleteIn the article “Learning from the Life Experiences of Mexican Origin Migrant Families" authors mentioned challenges and different experiences faced by migrant families when migrating to different country. The challenges such as “economic”, “working conditions”, “racial and ethnic discrimination” immigrant encounter in their routine lives. The authors stated that, “Interview with same participants cover the course of 3 years, which allowed us to explore life events that participants considered relevant ad well as the way such experiences progresses overtime” (367). The authors used three waves to date collection for their research. The multiple collections of date with the same targeted population help to explore in-depth finding. I think this will allow researcher to understand progress and change overtime.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how the authors allowed participants to choose language they are comfortable with. During research interview if participants have choices of language they can speak, they will feel more comfortable and open. Participant might communicate differently. In this case researcher can get more information and data collection. They will feel their language is valued and appreciated. If the researcher speaks and understand their language, it will add value in interview process. However, it shows interest and aware of their culture that is very important while conducting a research in minority population or/and different ethnic background.