Narratives of Older Male Latino Migrant Workers from a Texas Border Town
Date
2023-05
Authors
Baeza, Luis
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Abstract
The term migrant worker became popular in the early 1940s during the implementation of the Bracero Program and includes field workers, as well as workers in construction and factories. Currently, there is no research available on older male Latino migrant workers from Presidio, their families, work, and life stories. Therefore, the dissertation focuses on the motivations, challenges, resiliency, and legacy of older Latino migrant workers. To bring awareness to their stories, the research questions for the present study are: (1) What can we learn from the journeys of older male Latino migrant workers from a small border town in Texas? (2) What are their experiences, struggles, and achievements as migrant workers? (3) How does leaving for work impact their families and hometown?
Data for the study came from pláticas (conversations), documents, artifacts, field notes, and the researcher’s journal. Deductive analysis as well as narrative analysis procedures were helpful to examine the data collected. The study framework, which consisted of anatomy of story and critical pedagogy, served as a guide to collect/analyze data and report study findings. Thus, study findings are presented in two chapters. Chapter III describes the history of Presidio through photographs, murals from the city, and newspaper clippings. This chapter also introduces the study participants, the navel of the story. Chapter IV presents family, work, and life stories of the five migrant workers who participated in the study. In this chapter, study findings are organized following the structure of anatomy of story by discussing the heart, the mind, and the legs of the study. Finally, Chapter V concludes the dissertation and summarizes study highlights, study contributions, recommendations for Presidio City Officials, future research, tensions and challenges, and final thoughts.
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Keywords
Latino migrant worker, migrant worker, Latino, Presidio
Citation
Baeza, L. (2023). Narratives of older male Latino migrant workers from a Texas border town (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.