Seth Holmes Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies

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This case study discusses Adrian Mora, a banana plantation worker’s mysterious ailment. Readers travel along with Adrian through his journey of the mysterious disease, diagnosis, and alternative treatment. The doctor diagnosis Adrian with the Chagas disease, which is endemic to Costa Rica and Central South America. The doctor suggests that Adrian should get admitted to a hospital for treatment however; Adrian refuses because he is an illegal immigrant in Costa Rica. Adrian hesitantly takes the prescription from the doctor but wants alternative way to treat his disease so he would not have to see the doctor again. Finally, Adrian resides to find a plant called gavilana, hoping that the natural medication would cure him. In

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Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes, anthropologist and physician, sheds light on the everyday lives of Mexican migrant farm workers in the United States, specifically in Washington and California. Seth Holmes exemplifies objective relativism in his book by not only showing the perspectives and motives of the migrant farm workers, but also the farm executives and clinicians. Anthropologists use the method of ethnographic fieldwork because the body provides insights and data that facts cannot. The journey begins with Holmes alongside his Triqui companions crossing the border from Mexico to the USA. Homles describes the first part of his journey crossing the border as mentally and physically exhausting but it is necessary for them to

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This isolation and invisibility have been researched by Kari M. Bell in her Case Study entitled “Isolation, Invisibility and Health among Mexican Migrant Farm Workers in Southern Georgia.” Bell discovers that the isolated migrant worker has ”minimal or no access to protective factors such as family, education or an extended family network” (Bell pg. 10). These protective factors do not exist for Lupe, and he spends much of his time working. When he falls ill, like the immigrants in the study “The Impact of Invisibility on the Health of Migrant Workers in the Southeastern United States” (2012), he elects to not undergo additional tests and instead he decides to return to Mexico. This “Salmon effect” is documented in Bell’s case study (page 11). She notes that this effect may be responsible for the lower mortality rates reported in studies among migrant workers. Art imitates life in Reyes’ award-winning film, Lupe Bajo el Sol. The sad truth is that Lupe, like many farm workers is isolated and struggles to assimilate into the larger

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The readings for this week consisted of the introduction and first three chapters of Sarah B. Horton’s They Leave Their Kidneys In The Fields, Horton’s ethnographic exploration of migrant farm workers propensity for illness while working the fields. Horton interviews a variety of individuals, including field workers, attorneys, and USDA officials (Horton, pg. 25). Horton’s ethnographic style is interesting, as she uses what seem to be field diary entries along with a following theoretical analysis (Horton, 2016). Her accounts address both Salvadorian and Mexican immigrants (Horton, 2016). Horton does a good job of appearing neutral in her analysis of the situation.

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The health care system in the U.S. is used less than its full capacity by Hispanic women, especially after recent migration to the U.S. Among recent immigrants, protective factors such as traditions, health values and behaviors are shown to guard and strengthen health. Safeguards to health deteriorate sharply as they acculturate to U.S. society ((Sanchez-Birkhead, 2010).

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In Representation of Mexican American Migrant the author writes, “both Rivera and Viramontes do not shy away from presenting the multiple forms of oppression experienced by migrant families, such as:… lack of access to medical and social services” (Rangl). The authors have both concluded that the family in La Tierra did not have access to medical services. As mentioned earlier in this article, In La Tierra the father gets sick and never gets to go to the hospital. The father stayed outside the house relying on his wife who was not a physician for the medical help he needed. The father could not get proper professional medical help because they lack access to medical help as mentioned in Rangel and Beck’s

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