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The Mexican Worker: a Marxist Reading of Labor Struggles in Californian Chicano/A Literature

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The Mexican Worker: a Marxist Reading of Labor Struggles in Californian Chicano/A Literature THE MEXICAN WORKER: A MARXIST READING OF LABOR STRUGGLES IN CALIFORNIAN CHICANO/A LITERATURE By Felix Medina Jr. A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Chicano/Latino Studies—Doctor of Philosophy 2017 ABSTRACT THE MEXICAN WORKER: A MARXIST READING OF LABOR STRUGGLES IN CALIFORNIAN CHICANO/A LITERATURE By Felix Medina Jr. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the representation of labor struggles in Chicano/a literature, through a Marxist lens. This study examines how the Chicano/a literary works selected offer criticisms on the treatment of Mexican laborers within capitalism, and how these Chicano/a authors historicize the racialization and proletarianization of Mexicans within U.S. capitalism. Marxist theory allows to understand how Mexican bodies and their labor become (de)valued within capitalism depending on the needs of businessmen and the American government, thus becoming commodities themselves. The literary works discussed in this study cover the Chicano/a labor experience in California from 1965 to the late 1990s. Authors such as Luis Valdez, Helena María Viramontes, Francisco Jiménez, Cherríe Moraga, Alejandro Morales, and Luis Rodriguez offer unique perspectives on the Chicano/a labor experience through their characters. They show through their vivid descriptions of labor hardships, how society takes for granted the work that went into picking their fruits and vegetables. At other times, authors show how capitalism influences racial hierarchies and attitudes within the factory and the surrounding community. Through these labor themes, Chicano/a writers show how class and race intersect, thus shaping the Mexican worker’s experience. The Marxist theoretical framework contextualizes the U.S. capitalist social system to analyze the critique of Mexican workers’ mistreatment. This perspective helps us to understand American capitalism as the system creating racial tension, the construction of class and gender roles, and the transformation of the environment. Although fictional representations of Chicano/a labor struggles, the works show that these writers use their creative works to offer a historical sense of real events, while simultaneously demonstrating that the American capitalist system is built on inequality, and more specifically on the exploitation of cheap Mexican labor in agriculture and industrial jobs. Copyright by FELIX MEDINA JR. 2017 Dedicated to my family, consisting of my siblings, Melissa, Diana, Bernardo, and Jose. My nieces, Monique, Damaris, Isabela, and my nephew, Jorge. And to my mother, Maricela García and father, Felix Medina Sr., who like many Mexican laborers have lived to work and worked to live. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have my family to thank as I made my trek through this process. I felt selfish for being here and not there to help them in some way as they endured their own struggles. But they did not allow me to waver. Therefore, I thank my parents and siblings for their encouragement and support throughout my journey in academia. It was seeing my parents wake up at five a.m. each morning to drive to their jobs, that reinforced in me, that it was my job to get up every morning and pursue a degree in higher education. It was their hard work ethic that set an example for me. My transition to the Midwest was made incredibly easier thanks to the core group of Chicano/Latino Studies graduate student collective, consisting of José Moreno, Luis H. Moreno, Ernesto T. Mireles, Nora Salas, Antonio Vasquez, Rochelle Trotter and José Villarreal. All of these people and their families have at one point or other opened their homes to me and gave me a sense of family. Thank you all for the patience when I sought you out for answers to some of my questions; the insight you offered has shaped and molded me as a Chicano Studies scholar. And there were of course the many undergraduate students, like Adriana Abundis and Gaby Alcazar who offered inspiration through their work in organizations like CLU and MEChA. And there were people like Rainer Delgado, Maria Zavala and Roberto Reyes, friends that were supportive during the R/CLS struggle. I do not think I can thank Dr. Miguel Cabañas enough. He came on board as my chair, when things looked bleak for me. His advice, positivity, and intellectual perspective have been useful during this process. His positive attitude provided me with enough encouragement to continue and finish. He also helped me improve my dissertation and my thought process by pushing me to read theoretical works. Similarly thank you to Dr. Delia Fernandez for joining my vi committee, even though as they say, she did not know me from Adam. Thanks to Dr. Dylan Miner and Dr. Estrella Torrez for their hospitality. And I have gratitude for Dr. Susan Green who has rooted for me and been supportive since my time as an undergraduate at CSU, Chico. Michael McCue, thank you for the override each semester and for the encouragement. Dr. Eric Juenke, we have only met once, but it was reassuring to hear that you wanted to see me finish and then took the time to get me an extension so I could accomplish this task. There are many other friends and faculty who have given me apoyo, or who helped get me here. Such as Dr. Matthew Brown and Dr. Paul Lopez, thanks for the support and for taking the time to write me reference letters. Susan Renison of the Watsonville Public Library for going out of her way to accommodate me during my original research on the Watsonville Cannery Strike. Rosa Martinez, my friend and mentor during my time as an English Graduate student. La bola de NAK-os have shown me support by getting in touch through e-mail, text message, or phone calls to see how I was doing during my time in East Lansing, but a special thanks to Jose Valdez, Heriberto Coronel, Antonio Rivera, Rene Casas, Miguel Hernandez, Jose Bobadilla, Josue Guzman and Alejandro Castillo for being consistent, even when I was not. Monica Reynoso thanks for the care packages and for being there for me. Gracias, Angela Sanchez, for offering to let me use your Amazon Prime account to buy books I needed, and for trying to bring some cheer into my daily routine as I trudged along through this process. Thanks to Sabrina for joining me on walks around Spartan Village & listening to me vent. Pearla Anaya, thanks for telling me to give myself praise for even the smallest achievements. There are friends from my California past and present who have also stayed in touch to make sure I knew they were there for me, like Arturo Cisneros, Everette Hicks, Monica Arteaga and Briana Garcia. Gracias a todos/as. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Theory and Methodology ...........................................................................................................10 Chapter Outline ..........................................................................................................................20 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................24 Chapter 1 The Value of the Patroncito, Coyote and Farmworker Relationship ............................26 Introduction ................................................................................................................................26 Las dos caras del patroncito and Quinta temporada .................................................................42 Vietnam campesino and Huelgistas ............................................................................................56 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................67 Chapter 2 Looking Beyond the Produce: Defetishizing your Fruits and Vegetables In Viramontes’ Under the Feet of Jesus and Jimenez’s The Circuit .................................................70 Introduction ................................................................................................................................70 Commodity Fetishism and the Unseen Farmworker Struggles ..................................................78 Bringing Transparency to Crimes Against the Mexican Farmworker Body .............................85 De/Fetishizing the Saints ............................................................................................................93 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................105 Chapter 3 The Struggle Within the Struggle in Cherríe Moraga’s Watsonville: Some Place Not Here..............................................................................................................................................110 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................110 Labor and Morality ...................................................................................................................123 Senate Bill 1519: The Conquest Continues ..............................................................................128 (Re)Humanizing the Scabs .......................................................................................................134 Chente’s Moral Ambiguity .......................................................................................................139
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