Hector Gutiérrez Social Science
Surveillance of Permanent Workers in a Temporary Economy
Current research on Latino masculinity is just beginning to address the rich diversity of gendered experiences found among Latino men, suggesting that Latino men, like all men, are gendered in and through various ways. Still unaddressed, however, are the various different ways in which jornaleros (day laborers) are gendered, disrupting the assertion of a monolithic Latino male experience”. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews with jornaleros at two East Bay sites, Hector’s study will add valuable insight into gender understandings. Exploring attitudes during the current economic downturn, it will reveal how gender understandings change as day laborers exist in the absence of the home family, and domestic duties like cleaning cooking, and washing are allocated within a street family that cushions the negative experiences of under-employment and job loss.