Subjects:  1. Women   2. Sweden   3. Fiction   4. Sharecroppers   5. Migrant labor   6. Lo-Johansson, Ivar - Prose & Criticism   

Subjects:  1. Emigration and immigration   2. History   3. 20th century   4. Population geography   5. Refugees   6. Sociology   7. Social Science   8. Sociology - Social Theory   9. Emigration & Immigration   10. Human Geography   

Subjects:  1. Migrant agricultural laborers   2. Southern States   3. Government policy   4. United States   5. Social advocacy   6. Political Science   7. Sociology   8. Social Science   9. Sociology - Rural   10. Labor & Industrial Relations - General   

Subjects:  1. Agricultural laborers   2. United States   3. Migrant agricultural laborers   4. Science   5. Business & Economics   6. Careers - Job Almanacs   

Customer Reviews (3)

Readable for ages five (with help from parent) and up.
The writing in this book is excellent, flowing evenly from page to page. Many of the photographs within are pure art, having been taken by Russell Lee, Dorothea Lange, and others. These two people are the Pieter Bruegel and Thomas Hart Benton (depicting plain, everyday folk) of American photography. This book relates a small chunk of American history, to be sure, but more than that, it relates universal themes of the human condition. Overall, the book relates the brutal conditions of the dust bowl, the migration over the mountains and desert, taunting and prejudice from settled Californians, and eventual attainment of excellence, as revealed by the construction and maintenance of the Weedpatch School, which eventually became a model school in the community. My 5 1/2 year old enjoyed reading every page, and found particular mirth in the unusual daily chore that the dust bowl children did with their cows. The description of this unusual chore is worth the price of the book. What was this daily chore? One way to find out is to borrow or purchase this book.

Children of the Dust Bowl
I am a student at St. Lawrence University, and doing a summer fellowship about the works of John Steinbeck. This book, while written as a children's book, is a valuable look at the Arvin Federal Emergency School, the conditions of the Dust Bowl, American attitudes about the poor, and Leo Hart, the man whose vision for a "broader curriculum" among his students was so influential and inspiring.

Stanley treats the same material in short form in an article in The American West (1986).

American History Comes Alive for Kids and Adults
We don't often think of discrimination being directed against whites in the United States, but that was the case for many "Okies" who migrated to California in the 1920s and 30s. In the community of Weedpatch, CA--a small farm town near Bakersfield--the children of the white migrant farmworkers were not allowed to attend school with the other children in the community.

This book tells the story of the man who fought the community and the powers that be in order to start a school for these kids to make sure they got a decent education. His achievements exceeded his ambitions, as the school was a well deserved success. Many of the students went on to greater things, something that would have been hard to imagine before.

"Children of the Dust Bowl" was written for kids, but anyone interested in this unique time in our country's history would enjoy it.

I had to priviledge of being a student of Jerry Stanley's at Cal State Bakersfield, so I am somewhat biased in my praise for him and his work. This book deserves all of it, though. It is an excellent work in living history and well worth your time ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children of migrant laborers   2. Education   3. California   4. Arvin   5. History   6. Children's 9-12   7. Special Education - General   

Customer Reviews (1)

Global citizenship vs. State protection
This book shows a provocative attempt to argue that migrants in the Western Europe no longer require protection from their host states. Rather, it is the force of global human rights norm and enforcing institutions that brings them the rights.

Although the examples to support the arguments are sometime seen over-simplified and narrowly selected, the book serves as the prominent piece in the discussion of the migrants rights ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Citizenship   2. Europe   3. Aliens   4. Civil rights   5. Alien labor   6. Politics - Current Events   7. Social Science   8. Emigration & Immigration   

Customer Reviews (1)

Factories in the Field
An excellent book for anyone interested in California History, US History, the Great Depression or the history of corporate agriculture. Originally released the same year as Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, McWilliams' book relates the history of not only migrant farm labor in California, but the corporate farm as well. Having included extensive background on California's 19th Century land grab, McWilliams presents a comprehensive look at corporate agriculture, including its effect on various labor groups and the economy of the State of California. Written with a definite bias toward the underdog (the migrant worker), Factories in the Field nevertheless provides the reader with an understanding of the beginnings of corporate economy in California and its true beginnings in agriculture, including an explanation of the power of the ag growers--a political hot potato that continues in the state today. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Migrant agricultural laborers   2. California   3. Migrant Workers   4. Politics - Current Events   5. Political Science   6. Labor & Industrial Relations - General   7. Labor   8. Business & Economics   

Customer Reviews (1)

excelente
cuando lei este libro hasta llegue a sonar unas cuantas veces con estar en la carretera polvosa camino a otra comunidad donde pudiese conseguir un mejor empleo, y durmiendo en una hooverville. la historia es fascinante y es tan buena que la novela no parece las paginas parecen cortas. la familia que emigra, la lucha por un trabajo, la muerte, el crecimiento y distaciamiento de la familia. esta novela pinta un cuadro dramatico aunque lleno de hermosura narrativa de la gran depresion de los anos treinta, narrada en un lenguaje humano. es una de las mejores de este autor. muy recomendada..

LUIS MENDEZ ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Migrant agricultural laborers   2. Fiction   3. Rural families   4. Depressions   5. Labor camps   6. Literature - Classics / Criticism   7. Classics   8. Literary   

Subjects:  1. Commonwealth literature (Engli   2. History and criticism   3. English literature   4. Developing countries   5. Great Britain   6. English Literature (Specific Aspects)   7. Literature - Classics / Criticism   8. Literary Criticism   9. English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh   

Subjects:  1. Aymara Indians   2. Economic conditions   3. Labor supply   4. Peru   5. Huancane (Province)   6. Migrant Workers   7. Business / Economics / Finance   8. Business & Economics   9. Labor   

Subjects:  1. Citizenship   2. Emigration and immigration law   3. Emigration And Immigration   4. Public Policy   5. Politics - Current Events   6. Political Science   7. Civics & Citizenship   8. Emigration & Immigration   9. Public Policy - General   10. Social Science   

Customer Reviews (1)

The Possessed and the Dispossessed: Spirits, Identity, and
This deeply contextualized ethnography of possession deals with women, migration, and power as frames for both spirit possession and the construction of identity in the booming migrant town of Ambanja, in the Sambirano valley of northern Madagascar. The Malagasy word for the possession experience is tromba, which refers as well to the royal ancestral spirits of the Sakalava (the ethnic group under study), the institution of possession, and the spirit mediums themselves. Sharp is particularly sensitive to issues of power and political agency, and examines possession as a mode of political consciousness that is embedded in religious experience. Possession among the Sakalava is highly formalized, and spirits who are the agents of oracular possession are often part of family inheritance. Thus, it is important to identify and name spirits, a phenomenon which is important elsewhere in Africa as well. This naming provides a link with the local culture, including political and religious traditions, as well as with the land itself. With the rise of "Malagasization" in the postcolonial period (following a revolt against the French in 1947), tromba possession has increased and the number and variety of tromba spirits has expanded. It is no accident, then, that the prestige and power of tromba spirits, suppressed by the French, has been enhanced. Perhaps because tromba rituals have been a primary instrument for preserving and interpreting the history of the island, Malagasization has brought the tromba spirits and institution closer to the centers of Malagasy political authority and economic production. Indeed, the surprising power and prestige of the female tromba spirit mediums has enabled them to dictate the direction of national economic development projects. One of Sharp's observations is that contrary to the dominant assumptions in anthropology, Sakalava possession is not necessarily a province of the marginalized and weak. Though Malagasy women are chiched as weak or soft, while men are regarded as strong or hard, it is the women who, through their spirit voices, determine the pace and organization of the culture. Tromba mediums are also widely consulted healers who appear to have an amicable and respectful relationship with other medical practitioners on the island. Tromba are not the only spirits on Madagascar. There is another category of volatile and unpredictable spirits (njarinintsy) responsible for negative, unwanted possession, as well as for mass possession, largely of adolescent migrant girls, in the public schools. In one instance documented by Sharp, a powerful healer (moasy) was consulted. He reported that the local ancestors were angry because the French paid no regard to the sacredness of the ancestral ground on which the school was built, moving and destroying tombs. The healer recommended the performance on the school grounds of a ceremony honoring the deceased ancestors, including the sacrifice of an ox. Following this performance, the possession diminished considerably. Another interesting feature of this book is that it addresses the topic of the interface of local possession with Christianity. The Protestant Church is dominant in much of Madagascar, and has highly developed forms of healing rituals and exorcisms, even sponsoring exorcism retreats. Sharp has demonstrated that the clientele, whom she calls the dispossessed, consists to a great extent of those who cannot cope with either the status or the multilayered identity of the Sakalava defined through the dominant institution of tromba mediumship.In short, anyone with an interest in the phenomenon of spirit possession will learn quite a lot from this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sociology   2. Archaeology / Anthropology   3. Social Science   4. Anthropology - General   5. Africa - General   

Subjects:  1. Eastern Kentucky Social Club   2. Biography   3. African Americans   4. Societies, etc   5. Interviews   6. Biography / Autobiography   7. People of Color   8. United States - State & Local - General   9. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General   

Customer Reviews (52)

review for barefoot heart (MJ)
Barefoot Heart is a book that shows the life of a family of migrant farm workers. In some of the passages Elva describes the moment with such detail that make the reader feel inside the novel. Elva wanted to share with the readers how hard her life was, and what she did in the struggling moments. At the end of the book I felt lucky in some ways of my life because I didn't have to suffer the same hell she went through. Elva must have a huge gratitude feeling to her father because she mentioned her father almost in all the book.

Appreciation
Elva was the person who showed me and thought me that I 'v forgotten my appreciation for whom I love. She explained by, giving her life as an example or guide,how to be sad and happy in the same time. Actually,In my life I had gotten most of my needs from my parents yet I didn't know or realize how they work hard to get them. Life for me was just to take but not to give even a thanks for who gave me. Elva's book addressed my life as being grateful for my parents and all my family who took care of me. However, I knew that having migrant family is not shame and I'm no longer thinking about it in the negative way. My family overcome the disadvantages of their background, discovered their true talents, and, in the process, found their selves as I did.

LOOKING IN A MIRROR!
I ALWAYS THOUGHT HOW UNLUCKY I WAS TO GROW UP WITH A FAMILY THAT HAD TO MOVE AROUND EVERY SEASON TO PICK FRUIT. TODAY I REALIZE HOW LUCKY I HAVE BEEN TO HAVE LIVED THROUGH THAT. I SEE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY IN THIS BOOK AND I REALLY CONNECTED WITH ELVA AND HER FAMILY. ITS A GREAT BOOK AND I HAVE PURCHASED SEVERAL TO GIVE AS GIFTS AND EVERYONE HAS RAVED. I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Hart, Elva Trevino   2. Mexican American women   3. Biography   4. Mexican Americans   5. Social life and customs   6. Biography / Autobiography   7. General   8. Ethnic Cultures - General   9. Minority Studies - Ethnic American   10. Biography & Autobiography   

Customer Reviews (4)

If You Are Going to Save the World, Save the Children
Salgado shows us what war, poverty, and disaster does to the innocent. He has captured faces of children, who through some cruel fate have reaped only hardship in short time on earth. Yet, despite conditions of despair, some of these children manage a smile, a look of hope, and an attitude that defies their situation.

No words or captions are attached to the photos, rather Salgado lets each child convey their own message to you through their portrait. He brilliantly uses black & white film to heighten the intensity of each face, a face that looks you right in the eye and I swear, talks to you. If you want to know more about each photo an appendix is provide with date/place.

This is book that will stay in my collection, as it should, it is brilliantly done! "Children, Refugees and Migrants" desires to be prominently displayed in my house and it will be. Highly recommended

Children
Look at the hands, expressions and in the eyes of those children. Now, try to understand why Mr. Salgado took those pictures. When Mr. Salgado arrived in the refugee camps, a lot of children became curious about his job, about the equipment and so on. Then, Mr. Salgado took those pictures to avoid that a lot of small eyes follow him during all the time. But, the quality of those pictures are so good, that when those forgotten rolls were developed, he could see that those eyes, hands and expressions could tell a different story. As a Brazilian I am very proud of Mr. Salgado and his work. Suggestion: Migrations and Children have a exposition that will be in 19 countries around the world. Try to see those expositions. Natural size pics will give you an amazing view.

Famous Photographer, Nameless Children
These stunning portraits of displaced and refugee children are dismaying. They provoke an immediate response: grief, and then - one hopes - an immediate check in the mail to "Doctors without Borders" or a comparable international relief organization. What seems strange and distressing, however, is the intentional namelessness of each child. Each startling and heartbreaking portrait is captionless. Maybe Salgado believed them to be more effective, that way. You check the terse notes at the back of the book. The subject, in this case a boy missing an arm, stares forthrightly as the photogrpapher. He is identified as (for example): "38. The Natinga School Camp for displaced Sudanese. Southern Sudan, 1995." This Euro-bureaucratese is followed through-out. Each child is unnamed by the author, and this is a failing of this book, and one which serves to reinforce the initial crimes committed against these young people. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Photojournalism   2. History: American   3. Refugees   4. Sociology Of Children   5. Photography   6. Photoessays & Documentaries   7. Emigration & Immigration   8. Subjects & Themes - Portraits   9. Social Science   

Customer Reviews (1)

Pretty good.
This is a pretty good look at the lives of immigrants coming to America, for whatever reason that brought them there. It points out similarities in treatment among the different ethnic groups, as well as noting the differences in assimilation and access to opportunities.

There are essays at the end of each section, first person accounts of the lives of immigrants. These accounts make the book worthwhile.

The chapters themselves contain statistical information and items about discriminatory events and circumstances, employment and housing possibilities, and mentions the accomplishments and some well-known descendents of each immigrant group.

This is worth a read, especially for the student of the social sciences. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ethnology   2. United States   3. Ethnic relations   4. Race relations   5. Archaeology / Anthropology   6. Social Science   7. Anthropology - Cultural   8. Ethnic Studies - General   

Subjects:  1. Homosexuality, Male   2. Northwest, Pacific   3. History   4. Migrant labor   5. Sexual behavior   6. Sociology   7. Social Science   8. Gay Studies   9. Gender Studies   10. General   11. Men's Studies - General   

Subjects:  1. Chavez, Cesar,   2. 1927-   3. Migrant agricultural laborers   4. Labor unions   5. United States   6. Business   7. Biography & Autobiography   

Customer Reviews (1)

Rural Migrants in Beijing
The economic reform that started in China in 1978 has brought about the creation of floating population, in which as many as 100 million people left their villages and streamed into cities where manufacturing factories and businesses were booming. In the cities, these rural migrants are considered strangers and outsiders. Since they are denied formal urban membership and substantive rights, they have to struggle hard for a living space. How did they deal with different powers in order to claim their space and have their own rights guarded and protected?

For those interested in knowing about the formation conditions and existence strategies of the floating population in China, Li Zhang's book is worth reading. This is an ethnographic study on a particular migrant enclave in Beijing, which is called Zhejiangcun and only five kilometers from China's political centre, Tiananmen Square. The largest migrant settlement in Beijing, Zhejiangcun is mainly made up by the petty entrepreneurs originating from Wenzhou, a municipal city in Zhejiang province. It took shape in the 1980s and had nearly 100,000 migrant workers in 1995. Making use of pre-accumulated small capital and extended kinship ties, the entrepreneurs run family-based businesses mainly in garment manufacturing and trade. The settlement appears startlingly different from those formed by migrant workers (mingong) who have nothing but their labor to sell and depend heavily on the urban labor market for work. As small manufacturers and traders with economic resources, the Wenzhou migrant entrepreneurs in Zhejiangcun have the edge over other migrant workers as they are more capable to create native-place-based enclaves, workable social connections, and higher business flexibility.

As reflected in the subtitle of the book, Li Zhang explores three key issues - space, power, and social networks. More specifically, she demonstrates how the Wenzhou migrants gained, lost, and rebuilt a space in Beijing by strengthening social networks with fellow natives and forging power relations with the local government officials.

The book is well structured into a chronological order to show the formation and changes of the space in Zhejiangcun. Chapter 1 is a broader analysis of how the Chinese party system attempted to control and to manage the floating population that has grown in numbers in many cities. Li Zhang argues that the rural migrants, while their everyday practices were to some extent regulated by the government, they were able to create "alternative modes of social life and multifocal community life beyond a single, fixed geographic location." (p. 20).

In Chapter 2, Li Zhang traces how a distinctive historical commercial culture and petty capitalist economy nurtured Wenzhou migrant's present economic and spatial practices. She maps their migration routes and underscores the importance of family and native-place networks in the migration trajectories.

Chapters 3 and 4 explore how the privatization of space and power has been taking place concurrently in Zhejiangcun in the context of China's reform into market economy. More specifically, Chapter 3 shows how Wenzhou migrants appropriated land in local villages to create large residential with new social and political meanings. Chapter 3 demonstrates how the migrant leadership emerged and expanded their social and spatial bases of Zhejiangcun.

Once formed, Zhejiangcun evolved with its power structure changing in the space. As Li Zhang shows in Chapter 5, not merely the gender and domestic relations have changed, but the Wenzhou migrant households and production have also reorganized spatially. In the midst of these changes, the social order was damaged by increased crimes. Chapter 6 examines the different interpretations of the origin of crimes offered by the Wenzhou migrants and officials.

The social disorders led to the political conflicts between the upper-level governments and Wenzhou migrants and local residents. The authorities launched a number of cleanup campaigns in Zhejiangcun. Chapter 7 shows that the social conflicts actually involved many levels and the popular resistance during the campaign highlights the disparity, instability, different motivations and interest within the state.

The members of Zhejiangcun were able to challenge and manipulate land-use regulation through clientelist ties with local officials. Indeed, Zhejiangcun has survived the cleanup actions. Li Zhang shows in Chapter 8 that the Wenzhou migrants were able to make a return to Zhejiangcun by forming new commercial alliances with closed-down state factories and local government.

With this book, Li Zhang has tried to address a bigger question: how different components of the Chinese society position themselves in the midst of the rapid economic transformation and the subsequent restructuring of power relations. As indicated in the Conclusion, the point Li Zhang wants to make clear is to "resist the assumption that current societal transformations in China will necessarily lead to the demise of the socialist regime" (p. 208). Indeed Li Zhang has successfully shown that "indigenous petty capitalism coexists with state-owned enterprises and managed foreign capital, which together reshape the contours of Chinese society, one that is based on the interplay of market forces, traditional social relations, and state regulatory power." (p. 208).

I highly recommend this book to those who want to read about the internal migrants and petty entrepreneurs in China in the reform period. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Rural-urban migration   2. China   3. Beijing   4. Migrant labor   5. Urban policy   6. Sociology   7. Social Science   8. Sociology - Urban   9. Emigration & Immigration   10. Asia - China   11. Demography   

Customer Reviews (1)

alright
it gave a focus on all the china towns in a global perspective. the words were alittle hard to comprehend with the text but it was very imformative. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chinese   2. Foreign countries   3. Sociology   4. Social Science   5. Emigration & Immigration   6. Asia - China   7. Asia - General   8. History