Notes on HIS400 Reading Assignemnt

Presenter: Zach Shafer

Presented on: October 16, 2008

Citation: Oscar & Ruth Lewis, "A Day in the Life of a Mexican Peasant Family" in Marriage and Family Living, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Feb., 1956), pp. 3-13.

Main question of authors: What are the cultural and social lives of extremely poor families in Mexico like, during a time of prosperity and rock and roll in the country to the north?

Authors' Methods: Oscar and Ruth Lewis use what they call, ethnographic realism. Ethnographic writing is one used to describe human cultural and social interactions. Ethnographic realism is a style of ethnographic writing that narrates the author's experiences and observations as if the reader was witnessing or experiencing events first hand.

Conclusion: The author had no conclusion; however, I believe they were trying to portray how poor these people lived, that even the little things such as getting your first silk dress or flashlight were huge.

[Relevance to] Globalization: I have been having a difficult time finding the relevance to globalization in this piece. It appears to be a community which relies on itself. It does not interact with the outside world, nor does it have any "leftovers" to trade with people outside their community. The mill is an example of globalization, as the technology used to run did not come from this region. However, the price of using the mill seems very high for people with so little.

Questions to Consider:
* Has globalization affected the Martinez family?
* If many people relate globalization to trading, and these people trade constantly, then are they participating in globalization?
* What are the roles of the men and women?
* What role does religion play in their lives?
* Is it fair to say, "These are people without the affects of globalization?"
* Does education mean anything to them?

Additional questions to consider (from Jim Jones):
* How much is labor worth in this village?
* What points of contact do these people have with global systems?
* Why don't people like this get better jobs and lift themselves out of poverty?

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Copyright 2008 by Jim Jones