My project for the exhibit was a monologue, surrounding the hardships of farmworkers. In our Introduction to Latinx Studies course, Professor Castillo discussed the topic of cheap labor. One of the forms of cheap labor involved contract workers working in agriculture, where exploitation runs rampant. For instance, migrant farm workers are forced to endure horrible conditions, without fair wages or treatment. During one of our classes, we were tasked to create a mock debate surrounding the injury of a minor farm worker. Within this exercise, we were assigned as one of the stakeholders in the agriculture industry. I was a neighboring farm worker, and we settled the debate by agreeing to compensate the family and pay for the young boy’s hospital bills. However, the exercise allowed me to reflect on the extremities that farm workers are exposed to and the atrocities that continue to harm migrant contract workers.
In learning about this topic, I remembered how I heard similar stories from family members and family friends, which influenced my decision to pursue the topic, through a performing arts lens. Having previously performed a monologue on “dirty work” but through the perspective of a cleaning lady, I decided to create another monologue through a farmworker’s perspective. I utilized previous experiences from family members and friends of family to formulate my monologue, hoping to shed light on the impact of immigrants on cheap labor. In reading about people’s experiences as a migrant farm workers, I learned about how many suffered injuries that continue to affect them in their daily lives. Throughout the process, I found similarities in the cleaning lady monologue and the farm worker monologue, where immigrants are given “dirty jobs” due to low skill, pay, and being a “last resort” job one would ever want to have. The inability to receive assistance exemplifies the current treatment of immigrant farm workers, who live in fear of deportation or facing discrimination.
Along with this, we discussed the effects of labor unions and how Cesar Chavez led the monumental United Farmworkers labor union. During this discussion, Professor Castillo focused on the unfair conditions faced by the workers and the importance of creating solidarity. Within my monologue, I hoped to achieve this in my monologue by building the feeling of community, while acknowledging the challenges that immigrant workers face. Similarly, this discovery made me question the ongoing disparities that are evident in the agricultural workforce and the reasoning behind Americans not wanting to attain a “dirty job”.
Throughout the process of creating my monologue, I found myself uncertain about how to create a story that implements the experiences of the family friends, and family members. During Thanksgiving break, I asked past migrant farm workers and learned of the atrocities that currently impact their lifestyle, demonstrating the government’s disregard for their well-being. In demonstrating the negative effects of agricultural work, I formulated a 3-minute monologue on a form of “dirty work”, from the perspective of a female farmworker and her fellow migrant co-workers facing similar treatment but with different backstories.
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