Latina/o identities, the racialization of work, and the global reserve army of labor: Becoming Latino in Postville, Iowa

Abstract

This article argues that the experiences and group formation of the Latino population in the United States can best be understood by employing a framework which examines global economic and political forces—forces which draw upon Latin America’s global reserve army of labor to meet and exceed U.S. national labor demands in order to increase capital accumulation. While cautioning against viewing Latinos as a homogenous “culture,” the authors’ framework acknowledges shared racialized historical experiences and examines how a large segment of the Latino population fits into distinct spheres of the U.S. labor and economic system. The authors ground their theoretical framing using a case study of Guatemalan immigrants in a small U.S. Midwestern town. The authors conclude that Latinos in U.S. labor markets are used to perpetuate power dynamics, disrupt worker consciousness, and racialize Latinos around jobs.