Bracero: Remaking the California Agricultural Landscape, 1942-1964

布拉塞罗：重塑加州农业景观，1942-1964

• 批准号: 0550585
• 负责人: Donald Mitchell
• 金额: $ 13.5万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-01 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0550585&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bracero; Remaking; California; Agricultural; Landscape

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.

地理格局是区域政治经济的重要组成部分。景观的形态、结构和意义都是资本和劳动力在土地上循环和互动的投入和结果。现有的景观构建了资本和劳动力互动的方式；同样关键的是，资本和劳动力的互动重塑了景观。当劳资关系的性质发生变化时，预计地区性政治经济的格局也会随之发生变化。本研究以1942-1964年间的加州农业景观为研究对象。在这一时期，“客工”通过联邦政府签约在美国某些行业工作一段时间。农业是布雷罗劳动力的最大雇主；在农业中，布雷罗劳动力经常大量存在，但并不均衡，辅之以来自墨西哥的无证移民劳动力。加利福尼亚州是最大的背带工和无证劳工雇主。BLARERO系统标志着加州农业领域的劳资关系发生了重大转变，此前加州农业领域对劳动力市场动态的系统化程度要低得多。加利福尼亚州之前的研究表明，农业景观--加州农业优势的基础--是在各种政府机构的调解下，通过资本和劳动力之间持续而复杂的斗争而产生的。这项研究将检验这样一种假设，即托莱罗系统显著改变了加州景观的形式、意义和功能，从而改变了加州农业政治经济。调查者将审查档案来源、政府文件、国会听证会和其他调查、公司记录和其他来源，以对景观生产关系(形式)、景观的表现方式(意义)以及形态和表现在政治经济系统中的具体影响(景观的功能)进行系统的、规模敏感的和历史的分析。在这样做的过程中，该项目将展示帕雷罗劳动力如何塑造加州农业地区的景观，以及该景观如何塑造帕莱罗劳动力。该项目将为了解布雷罗计划的历史地理以及二战和战后加州的农业政治经济提供新的见解。这项研究将通过聚焦于一个未被研究的关键历史时期，对我们理解加州农业的经济地理做出重大贡献。通过这样做，该项目将进一步发展景观理论，并阐明景观对于理解区域社会、政治和经济变化的复杂性的价值。此外，当“客工”计划再次被放在国家政策议程的首位时，这项研究将开发出关于它们性质的有价值的数据。最后，该项目将为研究生助理提供重要的教育机会，并为本科生和研究生一级的PI提供新的教学重点。