Fresh Fruit Broken Bodies Summary

The physician anthropologist, Seth Holmes wrote, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant farm workers in the united states in 2013 a book that displays the essence of Mexican migrant through an ethnographic sense. This book illustrates the suffering, violence and health problems that indigenous Mexican migrant’s workers faced. In common with what migrant workers dealt with the author also experience problems of his own. He wanted first hand research so he traveled on the bus from Oaxaca, Mexico to cross the border with migrants. On the way he met with Triqui families and even nine men whom he ended up traveling with. His work is supported by traveling with migrants back and forth from San Miguel, Oaxaca, Mexico, Arizona and California. This book …show more content…
The author, went through picking berries and in the midst of doing it he will always experience pain. He even felt sick because of dealing with depression knowing that all his days would be (consumed) with picking berries. While doing the hard labor of picking berries he went through pain so he took ibuprofen in hopes that he will feel better. He knows that this was the act of suffering and sickness not being able to feel your legs or not having access to a hot tub every day. He quickly learned that the migrant farm workers only experience inequality. “Structural violence is manifested as social inequalities and hierarchies often along social categories of class, race, gender, and sexuality” (pg. 89) no one is understanding the illness this type of work is bringing towards people. The poor faced many health problems working to harvest strawberries Seth began to be close to the three men listening to their stories and experience of how they were injured causing a physical violence, another to have headaches and that effected the symbolic violence and the last one to have stomach pains. These people go through all the trouble because where they live is no work for them to do so the risk of traveling in hopes that is why they migrate to survive in order to work. Triqui migrants go through mental, physical and emotional suffering (page. 92) all so that their families will have better shelter. In the fields Triqui migrant workers worked to harvest fruit all day causing their back and knees to hurt many labor workers died from the exhaustion of heat strokes, and lack of water which caused dehydration (Holmes, pg.8). In chapter five, the medical anthropologist Holmes wanted to learn more about the health aspect of the migrant health so he found a clinic to focus on Triqui