“Our People Are Still Resisting”: Farmworker Community Organizing and the Texas Agricultural System

Edwards, Michelle L.

doi:10.1177/1086026611412082

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Frames of public and occupational health and of corporate accountability have been useful for forming local blue‐green alliances, especially around issues of specific hazards and toxics (Estabrook et al. ; Mayer ; Edwards ). Common values and a coherent ideology may be essential for sustaining social movement coalitions (McCright and Dunlap ).…”

Section: The Labor and Environmental Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Creating shared identities, a sense of belonging, and collective action frames are particularly important for cross-movement coalition formation (Mayer 2009;Mayer, Brown, and Morello-Frosch 2010). Frames of public and occupational health and of corporate accountability have been useful for forming local blue-green alliances, especially around issues of specific hazards and toxics (Estabrook et al 2000;Mayer 2009;Edwards 2011). Common values and a coherent ideology may be essential for sustaining social movement coalitions (McCright and Dunlap 2008).…”

Section: The Labor and Environmental Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

Kojola

Xiao

McCright

2014

The Sociological Quarterly

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The labor and environmental movements have had a complicated relationship with periods of cooperation as well as conflict, but recently there has been increasing collaboration at the national level. Whether such a trend of cooperation can be sustained will partially depend on grassroots‐level connections between the two movements. However, there has been little empirical research on the environmental attitudes of union members, which is important for understanding the potential for shared values between union members and environmental activists. This article analyzes 1993, 2000, and 2010 General Social Survey data to examine if the environmental attitudes of people in union households have changed given shifting labor–environment relations and broader political‐economic conditions. We find that union membership does not influence environmental concern in weaker economic times (1993 and 2010) but that it has a positive effect on environmental concern in stronger economic times (2000). Thus, union households are generally no less concerned about the environment than nonunion households. Therefore, strengthening connections between union members and environmental activists may be a feasible strategy for invigorating both the labor and environmental movements.

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Section: The Labor and Environmental Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Labor and Environmental Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

Kojola

Xiao

McCright

2014

The Sociological Quarterly

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“…Thus, creating shared identities and values through framing, personal relationships, and bridge builders is important for sustaining labor-environment coalitions (Gordon, 1999;Mayer, 2009). Frames of occupational health and corporate accountability have been effective for labor-environment alliances (Edwards, 2011;Mayer, Brown, & Morello-Frosch, 2010).…”

Section: Social Movements Coalitions and Union Revitalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serving Food Justice: A Union Campaign for Fresh Food, Health, and Sustainability

Kojola¹

2013

Journal of Workplace Rights

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The local and sustainable food movement has grown in the past 30 years, and universities, schools, and other public institutions are incorporating local and fresh foods into their cafeterias and dining services. Yet discussions of organic food often leave out issues of race and class, and the people who grow, transport, cook, and serve the food are often invisible. Work in food service is done by a largely female and person of color labor force and dominated by low wages, scanty benefits, precarious work, subcontracting, and a lack of access to health care and nutritious foods-conditions endemic to the broader service sector. The UNITE HERE Real Food Real Jobs campaign is an attempt to bring together issues of sustainability, nutrition, and food access with worker justice and transform the food system from the shop floor. Drawing on participant observation and discourse analysis of UNITE HERE campaign materials, I use the campaign at American University of Washington, DC (AU) as a case study to explore the food issues facing workers and how sustainability measures can be incorporated into collective bargaining to improve working conditions, increase job security, and engage workers in promoting safe and local foods. The campaign provides opportunities to build alliances with students, food activists, and health advocates. I contextualize the campaign within the broader literature on union revitalization and coalition building as well as food justice.

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“…It can, and does, most often inhibit honest, transparent, on-the-ground communication between predominantly white-identified organizations and those very communities they wish to advocate for. This ethno-cultural burden on POC can inadvertently arise from the whiteidentified individual's need to understand the complex and intricate issues acting within systemic racism that impact POC and can perpetuate the appropriation of labor on the bodies, minds, and spirits of Black and Brown communities, a phenomenon that is supported by the literature (Breunig & Ernst, 2011;Brewer & Heitzeg, 2008;Chang & Thompkins, 2002;Edwards, 2011;Hallett, 2002;Persuad & Lusane, 2000;Rao, Quandt, Doran, Snively, & Arcury, 2007;Salazar, Napolitano, Scherer, & McCauley, 2004;Tessier, 2007;Trujillo-Pagán, 2014). However, in the one-on-one interview setting, there were findings that gave cause for a hopeful reversal of this ethno-cultural burden.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I will examine the relationships between predominantly white-identified environmental and social justice groups and groups of POC/non-white identity, while looking at the phenomena of WG, WF, and CBRI in the coalition-building context. These three phenomena-WG, WF, and CBRI-are recognized has having significant influence in coalition building, most notably due to being embedded within the foundational history of the United States, through the practice of slavery, the colonization of Indigenous peoples, and the import of low-cost agricultural and service-industry labor from Mexico (Colwell-Chanthaphonh, 2005;Corlett, 2016;Edwards, 2011;Field, 1999;Kozol, 2005;Schwartz, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Whiteness of the Elephant in the Room

Foran¹

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Using frameworks from critical race theory, social movement theory, and community-based activism, this thesis explores the phenomena of white fragility, white guilt, and colorblind racial ideology and how they impact the ways predominantly whiteidentified social and environmental justice organizations approach, build, and maintain solidarity with communities of color in Santa Cruz County, California. A qualitative approach was employed to investigate the experiences of white-identified activists and how they attempt to engage in this constantly challenging process. Using twenty-two semi-structured interviews and eight group observations, I explored how white-identified individuals negotiate the transformation from 'moral passivity' to meaningful, personal relationships with people of color (POC). The research shows remarkable differences in responses by white-identified individuals in public space (implicit bias/overtly racialized comments) versus private space (self-reflection, drive toward self-education, willingness to forge authentic relationships with POC). The research also uncovers possible implications for how the intrapersonal dismantling of racialized thought systems on an individual basis may impact group coalition-building processes. More research is warranted, however, in the exploration of how these implications may translate to concrete strategies in the toolkits of predominantly white-identified environmental and social justice organizations. v ACKNLOWLEDGMENTS Without the help and support of the many individuals involved, this modest body of research would not have been possible. First, I would like to extend my gratitude to my life partner and spouse Gerald Francis Casel, who was, and is presently, an inspiration and a pillar of strength during a time when I thought I couldn't return to school or even think about completing a graduate program. Next, I want to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis chair, Dr. Jason Douglas, who encouraged me, through the many incarnations of thesis proposals, to take the ball on this project and run with it. The breadth and depth of his dedication to the most marginalized communities among us never cease to amaze me and keep me rooted to these ideals as my lodestar. Thanks also to Dr. Will Russell, not only for the mountainside philosophical discussions, but also for the patience and keen eye which were invaluable in the preening out of all the unnecessary material that eventually led me to this project. Thanks go as well to Dr. Natalie Boero, whose impeccable ability to ask the right questions and whose unparalleled skill in qualitative investigation dropped enough breadcrumbs my way to lead me out of the forest right into her office so I could complete my thesis committee. I am grateful and in awe of the many ways that each of you inspire your students. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

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“Our People Are Still Resisting”: Farmworker Community Organizing and the Texas Agricultural System

Cited by 11 publications

References 33 publications

Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

Environmental Concern of Labor Union Members in the United States

Serving Food Justice: A Union Campaign for Fresh Food, Health, and Sustainability

The Whiteness of the Elephant in the Room

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