Graduation Date
Spring 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Social Science, Environment and Community
Committee Chair Name
Cinthya Ammerman
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Nancy Perez
Third Committee Member Name
Jaime Navarro Nájera
Keywords
California farmworkers, Campesinos, Labor histories, Care labor, Oral stories, Storytelling, Migration, Memory, Farmworkers, World-building
Subject Categories
Environment and Community
Abstract
Campesinos, often reduced to the label of “farmworkers”, are too often seen only through the lens of their labor within profit-driven systems. This thesis disrupts that limited narrative by illuminating the rich, expansive nature of vivencias campesinas, ways of being that transcend capitalist measures of value. These vivencias are lived, embodied experiences rooted in campesino lifeways, encompassing cultural, spiritual, and relational practices that nurture and sustain life.
My research is guided by four central questions: (1) In what ways have campesinos in pixley resisted exploitative labor systems, and how can this resistance be understood as a form of care labor? (2) How have both land and the labor of campesinos in pixley been transformed through time? (3) Why is it important to recenter the lived, experiences, Indigenous knowledge and worldview of campesinos? What more-than-human relationships do they highlight? (4) In sharing the collective stories of campesinos in pixley: how do they transform our understanding of vivencias campesinas today?
This thesis uses storytelling, oral-narratives, and self-reflections as methods of investigation to explore the lived experiences of campesinos and reframe their contributions beyond economic labor. Through the lens of resistance and care labor, this work examines the transformative role campesinos have played throughout the central valley, highlighting their continued resistance to exploitation as an act of care and community building. The recentering of Indigenous knowledge systems and lived experiences aid in understanding the relational and reciprocal ways of being in vivencias campesinas.
Citation Style
Chicago
Recommended Citation
Ríos Gómez, Chelsea, "Campesino world-building: stories of migration, memory, and care in the tension of the colonial frame" (2025). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2281.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2281
Included in
Chicana/o Studies Commons, Community-Based Learning Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Environmental Education Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Labor History Commons, Latina/o Studies Commons, Liberal Studies Commons, Migration Studies Commons, Oral History Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, Social History Commons, Sustainability Commons