This ethnographic work tackles the idea of malleable and manipulable identities. Migrants straddle multiple identities, carrying their former selves into new locations, striving to maintain and recreate themselves. The film also looks at how discrimination fits into the larger economy. It explores how issues related to identity, citizenship, currencies and multiple normative and legal requirements come into play as part of the economic landscape of the creation of wealth in California’s $34-Billion-per-year agriculture industry.
The California Project - is a 56 minute ethnographic documentary on findings of a bi-national, multi-year research project between the University of California Santa Barbara and CIESAS in Mexico, about the formation of community in the San Joaquin Valley in California.
For 150 years migrants from Mexico have been central in supplementing the region’s labor force at key harvest times. Unlike other regions of the U.S. in California the growing farms are reliant on lots of low-cost labor. Up to a million workers per year are needed in prime harvest times. The grapes, nuts, carrots, onions, oranges and strawberries all need to be harvested on time. The Mexican migration pattern has changed in recent years. Tightening of the border increased danger and made it more likely migrants would stay multiple seasons, move up the ladder of opportunity, fall in love and settle down; they are given the chance to 'borrow into' the American Dream. Engaging in contracts and loans, they tie themselves to a future in the United States.
The film was written, produced and directed by Ana Torres and Joshua Greene. Edited by Ana Torres and Glynis Board,. Photography by Ian Carmody. Sound by Glynis Board.
Now that water has become a major issue for urban residents in California, can the state really afford to dedicate up to 90 percent of its water resources to Industrial Agriculture? When the water runs out, what happens to these individuals and workers who have invested in the nation to build communities and raised their children and grand children?
Comments