Bracero: Remaking the California Agricultural Landscape, 1942-1964

地理景观是区域政治经济的重要组成部分。 景观的形状、结构和意义既是土地上资本和劳动力循环和相互作用的输入，也是其结果。 现有的景观结构的方式，资本和劳动力的互动;同样重要的是，资本和劳动力的互动重塑景观。 当劳资关系的性质发生变化时，预计景观-因此区域政治经济结构-也将发生变化。 本研究的重点是加州农业景观在“布拉塞罗”时期，1942年至1964年。 在这个时代，“客工”（braceros）通过联邦政府签订合同，在美国某些行业工作一段时间。 农业是最大的雇主bracero劳动力;在农业，bracero劳动力经常，大量，但不均衡，补充无证移民劳动力从墨西哥。 加州是雇佣黑人劳工和非法劳工最多的地方。 该制度标志着加州农业劳动关系的重大转变，此前，加州农业劳动关系对劳动力市场动态的系统化程度要低得多。 以前在加州的研究表明，农业景观-加州的农业优势的基础-是通过资本和劳动力之间的持续和复杂的斗争，由各种政府机构调解产生的。 本研究将探讨的假设，即bracero系统显着改变了形式，意义和功能的加州景观，因此加州农业政治经济。 调查员将检查档案来源，政府文件，国会听证会和其他调查，公司记录，和其他来源进行系统的，规模敏感的，景观生产（形式）的关系，景观（意义）的代表模式和历史分析的具体影响，形态和代表在政治经济系统（景观的功能）。 在这样做的过程中，该项目将显示如何在农业加州的景观塑造bracero劳动力和景观塑造bracero劳动力。该项目将提供新的见解bracero计划的历史地理和加州的农业政治经济在第二次世界大战和战后时期。 这项研究将有助于我们了解加州农业的经济地理，重点是一个关键的历史时期，是欠研究。 在这样做的过程中，该项目将进一步发展景观理论，并阐明景观的价值，以了解区域社会，政治和经济变化的复杂性。 此外，这项研究将开发有关“客工”计划的性质的宝贵数据，当他们再次在国家政策议程的顶部。 最后，该项目将为研究生助理提供重要的教育机会，并为PI在本科和研究生阶段的新教学重点奠定基础。

The geographical landscape is a critical component of regional political economies. The shape, structure, and meaning of the landscape are both inputs to and results of the circulation and interaction of capital and labor on the land. The existing landscape structures the ways that capital and labor interact; just as crucially, the interaction of capital and labor reshapes the landscape. When the nature of capital-labor relations changes, it is expected that the landscape -- and therefore the structure of the regional political economy -- will likewise change. This research focuses on the California agricultural landscape during the "bracero" period, 1942-1964. During this era, "guest workers" (braceros) were contracted through the federal government to work for set periods of time in certain US industries. Agriculture was the largest employer of bracero labor; in agriculture, bracero labor was frequently, substantially, but unevenly, supplemented by undocumented migrant labor from Mexico. California was the largest employer of bracero and undocumented labor. The bracero system marked a significant transformation of labor relations in agriculture California, which previously had relied on far less systematized labor market dynamics. Previous research in California has shown that the agricultural landscape -- the foundation of California's agricultural predominance -- was produced through on-going and complex struggles between capital and labor, as mediated by various government agencies. This research will examine the hypothesis that the bracero system significantly altered the form, meaning, and function of the California landscape and therefore of the California agricultural political economy. The investigator will examine archival sources, government documents, congressional hearings and other investigations, company records, and other sources to conduct a systematic, scale-sensitive, and historical analysis of the relations of landscape production (form), the modes of representation of the landscape (meaning), and the specific effects that morphology and representation have in a political economic system (the landscape's function). In doing so, the project will show how bracero labor shaped the landscape in agricultural California and how the landscape shaped bracero labor.This project will provide new insights into the historical geography of the bracero program and California's agricultural political economy in the World War II and post-war eras. The research will contribute significantly to our understanding of the economic geography of California agriculture by focusing on a crucial historical period that is understudied. In doing so, the project will further develop landscape theory and shed light on the value of landscape for understanding regional social, political and economic change in its complexity. In addition, the research will develop valuable data about the nature of "guest worker" programs when they are once again at the top of national policy agendas. Finally, the project will provide significant educational opportunities for a graduate assistant and form the basis of new teaching foci for the PI at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.