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Degree

MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences : Anthropology, 2010.

Abstract

Undocumented immigration from Latin America to the United States has grown dramatically over the past 20 years despite increased efforts on local, state and federal levels to curtail it. During this same period of time immigrant workers have accounted for 67% of Hispanic workplace fatalities from 2003-2006, up from 52% in 1992. This study takes a first step in exploring the relationship between undocumented status and workplace safety by examining the meaning and perceived consequences of undocumented status on the occupational lifeworld of the undocumented Hispanic immigrant (UHI) worker. This study analyzes data from 16 focus groups (n=103) and 10 individual interviews with UHI workers in Cincinnati, Ohio and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Participants consistently mentioned concerns such as fear of job loss, limited mobility, and differential treatment as negatively impacting working conditions and their ability to address safety concerns at work. The findings not only detail the effects of undocumented status in the daily lives of workers, but also suggest the consequences of the recent intensification and localization of immigration control efforts. In addition, they are a pointed example of what Galtung and Farmer have called “structural violence,” insofar as they reveal the motives and structural barriers shaping workers’ health- and safety-related decisions and practices.

Subject Headings

Cultural anthropology

Keywords

Latino/Hispanic; Occupational Health; Undocumented Status; Structrual Violence; Immigrants; Workers

Committee / Advisors

Clement Jeffrey Jacobson, PhD (Committee Chair)
Leila Rodriguez, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

68p.

Document number: ucin1280776817
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1280776817

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