“Oaxacans Like to Work Bent Over”: The Naturalization of Social Suffering among Berry Farm Workers

Abstract

The Skagit River flows west from the mountains of the North Cascades National Park in northwestern Washington State to the Pacific Ocean’s Puget Sound, pouring through some of the most spectacular vistas in North America. The river is located roughly halfway between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, about an hour and a half drive from each. Most of Skagit County’s agriculture can be found in the flat flood plain of the river. This land is protected from the tides of the Puget Sound by a grass-covered dike some five-feet tall gently curving along the edge of the water.