Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bio-Cultural Consequences of Changes in the Scale and Organization of Agricultural Work

American University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

PhD candidate Dvera Saxton (American University), supervised by Dr. Brett Williams, will investigate the relationship between types and scales of regional socioeconomic production systems and worker health. The research, which will be carried out among migrant farm workers in Central Coast California, will focus on the differential effects of the organization and scale of work in both conventional and organic agricultural production systems. Research questions include: 1) How are production and labor organized? (2) How do organizational differences shape farm worker health experiences? (3) How do farm workers respond to the physical effects of work? Research methods will include ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and health perception maps. This research is important because it will contribute to social scientific theory of the new relationships between the organization of work and embodied human experience in the context of changing agricultural production systems. Findings from this work also will elucidate the social effects of sustainable production systems. Supporting this research also supports the education of a graduate student.