Abstract

This article considers ethnographic field research in order to analyze the violence and exploitation inherent to our transnational agro-food system and the ways in which temporality and statistics may aid in making visible and invisible certain experiences of migrant farmworker injury as well as individual and collective actions for wellbeing. Based in long-term, in-depth ethnographic research, this article utilizes theories of temporality and events in order to highlight social and health inequalities in agricultural labor and encourage agricultural, food and health scholars to consider critically the effects of our methods. Juxtaposing the injury and health care experiences of one Mexican migrant farmworker with statistics on the health and health care of migrant and seasonal farmworkers more generally, the article confronts both the normalization of migrant farmworker injury and the taken-for-granted helpfulness of quantitative and qualitative research alike. In addition, the argument acknowledges the everyday, individual practices and collective actions migrant farmworkers engage into demand and build wellbeing for themselves, their families and beyond.