Lost in translation “en el Fil”: Actualizing structural humility for Indigenous Mexican farmworkers in California

Abstract

This study demonstrates how we espoused a structural competent point of reference and operationalized the concept of structural humility for the purposes of conducting a communication evaluation strategy in support of California farmworkers. Strengthened by Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the principles of Critical Race Theory, a two-phase qualitative research process was developed to understand if state agency resources were adequately addressing workplace vulnerabilities in the agricultural fields. The research process included first, a comprehensive content analysis of labor educational resources, and second, a series of focus groups with California labor agency staff, community advocacy organizations, and farmworkers of mestizo and indigenous Mexican origin. This study makes a significant contribution to structural humility scholarship by demonstrating how the use of critical frameworks realized and extended the definition of structural humility, addressing structural systems of power that perpetuate the marginalization of immigrant and indigenous farmworkers. The methodology and findings of the study advance support for organizations that work with immigrant and indigenous populations and seek to interrogate sociopolitical inequities.Guatemala. This translation suggests that in order to realize structural humility, service providers need to decolonize their communication systems and processes to realize change for the Indigenous community. As explained by Policarpo Chaj, K'iche' interpreter from Guatemala residing in Los Angeles. 13 "Resistir Las Jerarquías | Le kate gat disha cha, ka na gat neda" translates to "Resist Hierarchies | When my word dies, I will die too." The latter is part of a longer Zapoteco phrase, Bene shtill shla gune ratgr gushalgshu disha chego concha bi gat disha checho da bguan bene gurase checho, le kate gat disha cha, ka na gat neda (La gente blanca tiene que abrir el camino para platicar con nosotros y nuestra palabra no muera, la palabra que nos dejaron los antepasados. Porque cuando se muera mi palabra entonces moriré yo. White people have to open the path and talk to us so that our word will not die, because when my word dies, I will die too). This translation states that in order to move forward with Indigenous populations non-Indigenous people need to stop using communication systems and processes that reinforce racial and social hierarchies. To use Indigenous languages and modes of communication is to actively resist conquest. As explained by Odilia Romero, Zapotec interpreter from San Bartolome Zoogocho, Oaxaca residing in Los Angeles.