This article talks about human rights issues and power in Brazil. This goes into women's rights, abuse of power, harassment, misinformation within elections, and environmental aspects. Abuse of power connects to FFBB because we see the people at the top of the social hierarchies taking advantage of those beneath them. We can also connect women's rights to WTNS because of how the public views and treats women in different societies.

Due to the exploding drug trade in Latin America, gang violence and military oppression rose exponentially against Ecuadorian civilians as Ecuador now has one of the highest rates of murder in the entire world.

This is connected to FFBB, because many undocumented workers such as the Triqui migrants came to work in the U.S due to instances of structural violence such as government oppression and domestic violence. Ecuador is entering a state where exodus is becoming necessary to escape the violence.

This relates to structural violence, behavioral, and migrant mobility. This will encourage more violence on immigrant especially if they get caught by immigration and will significantly stop their mobility out of Mexico.

This relates to power, further giving the government more power over migrants mobility and safety. This also reveals the culture towards migrants in Texas and the Texas government.

This is very obviously Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, as it has to do with immigration, especially out of Mexico. And follows similar superstructures of undocumented Mexicans.

Connection to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: This issue connects to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies as it discusses the lack of agency of migrants who are forced to move.

Summary:

This article discusses how authorities have failed to put in place measures to provide security to schoolchildren following the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chobook, Nigeria 10 years ago. With the kidnappings occuring in Nigeria, the students are risk of getting abducted when trying to get their education.

Connection to Ethnography:

This also connects to the ethnography Working the Night Shift by Reena Patel because in her book she talks about the way that women oftentimes are criticized for leaving their homes in the night or during the day and walking by themselves to their work without a male figure. This goes to show the limitations to the agency women have in furthering their success and career because of the social constructed norms of what is and isn't okay and safe for them to do. Similarly, in this article, the schoolgirls, while they have a valid reason to be cautious given the events when attending school, they also lack agency to be able to further their success and future career options through education.

Racial profiling (suspecting or targeting someone based on their race) is very common amongst the French police as of 2024. However, this violates international human rights laws, so five French and international groups filed a complaint today with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This can be connected to both human rights and inequality. Obviously, the French police are violating international human rights that protect citizens from being profiled for their race alone. But this profiling also creates an inequitable society for non-white people in France, a society where people of color have to be extra careful not to draw attention to themselves when they leave their homes out of fear of being accused of a crime. A key concept to connect this example to would be structural violence - people of color are being harmed by being falsely accused of things because of the racist society in France. This example can also be connected to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, where some of the migrant workers mentioned to Holmes, while at McDonalds, that they avoid talking to authorities and store workers when they are outside of their homes to avoid being falsely accused of stealing, lying, or etc. 

The article covers the rapid increase in migration in the United States since the pandemic. The article mainly views this as a positive aspect, as it contributes to the economy and population growth. Without immigration, the US is expected to fall in population and have lower economic growth. The migrant workers cover the economic gap created by Native-born workers seeking other jobs or retiring, especially in states with higher average working ages. It also briefly mentions the political aspect of migration and how the government is currently looking at shutting down borders.

How can you connect this to one of the REAL WORLD ISSUES, any KEY CONCEPTS and to ONE or MORE of our Ethnographies:

This topic connects to mobility and migration, as well as economic power. The article focuses on the economic effects of immigration on the US, and how it changes the expected economic power of the US. Some of the cited reasons for immigration to the US are "Many are spurred by geopolitical instability, including economic crisis and crime in Venezuela, violence in Congo, and humanitarian crises across other parts of Africa and the Middle East."

This topic also connects to similar themes as FFBB, as it looks at migrant workers and their effects on the US economy and work force. Both this article and FFBB also cover illegal immigration and a lack of work permits, and the effects that those factors have on the migration of workers and economy of the US.

Who: Black Americans and White Americans

What: People with White-sounding names get chosen for job interviews more than people with Black or foreign-sounding names

When: 2003-2023

Where: Chicago and Boston

Why: White employers in the US are typically biased towards White people and feel as though Black employees "may not have the right qualifications"

This connects to the racism portrayed in Learning Capitalist Culture as White people tend to make assumptions about a person's education level, work ethic, and general qualifications based on race. In the article, this puts Black applicants at a disadvantage, despite having the same qualifications as a White job applicant. In LCC, Mexican students were undermined and received fewer opportunities because of their race and White peoples' racial biases. This connects to the key concept of power as Black people are experiencing a lack of power within an oppressive job system.

Myanmar's government has carried out various violations of international war laws, from indiscriminate killings to torture. Over 2 million have been internally displaced and over 100,000 have fled. Thailand has decided not to send 19 undocumented children back, and are being urged to expand this policy to include all refugees as long as the situation in Myanmar remains dire. Failing to do so is in direct opposition of international law.

Although not the same as Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies where the scenario isn't as clearly deadly, both are cases where the country people are fleeing from does not have a good future for people. In both cases, mobility is limited as people cannot remain in their home, but are stuck in limbo on where they can go. Human rights are a major consideration in both cases, as the treatment of refugees has not been in accordance with the UN.

Female track athletes, specifically runners of the Olympic level are upset that Nike issued them "skimpy" uniforms. They don't want to compete in them, even at the Paris Olympics. They think they are too short and it was disrespectful they were given to them to wear.

This is a real world issue, current, The Wall Street Journal posted the article this morning. Focuses on the issue of inequality, making female athletes show off more of their body when competing. Connects to the key concept of Identity. These female athletes are already self conscious going out and now are expected to wear less clothing than they are comfortable with. This decision was based off their gender, which falls into their identity.

Connects to the ethnography Pretty Modern. Both talk about females appearances, and how their beauty is viewed in society. Connects again to the key concept of Identity through their gender as a female. But also the key concept of a society, and society's expectations of a female beauty standard.

This article discusses an organization in Kutch district of Gujarat that helps women who are suffering with abuse from their families by training other women to be paralegals and defusing their situations or helping them escape consensually. They help women so that they dont have to go to the police, as "When situations like these are taken to the police, they can become an added stressor for the woman. Often, the issue is easier to resolve through counselling.". IN Working the night shift, Patel highlights how law enforcement which is supposed to help women in India often ends up working against them and is incompetent in many regards to violence faced by women.

Connection: This connects to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies and the key concept of power with Israel having a disproportionate amount of power against Gaza. Furthermore, while there is the necessary international outcry against this killing, there is less of an international outcry against the 30,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The El Niño drought has scorched crops, leaving millions hungry, forcing Zimbabwe's President to declare a National Disaster. Zimbabwe was once the epicenter of grain exportation, providing fruitful economic opportunities. More recently, it has been relying on nearby countries aid to survive.

South Africa crops heavily rely on early spring rain to prosper. Because of climate change, the rain has gotten later and later, this year, no rain has fallen, leaving crops dried up.

"Justices triggered a 6-week abortion ban to take effect May 1 by upholding the state's 15-week restrictions. The same day, justices ruled that Amendment 4, which would protect abortion up to 24 weeks, can appear before voters on the ballot in November."

This is connected to Human Rights and Inequality. It is the argument between a human life is no matter how old and whether people should be allowed choice.

These two global issues can also be connected to Working the Night Shift where there is the conflict of inequality between men and women and how women are not necessarily afforded basic human rights as they are "asking for it" if they are outside whereas no one asks why men are doing bad things.

-Victor E

Structural & Symbolic Violence

In Germany, a Jewish student at a university was attacked with likely antisemitic motives. While the university banned the perpetrator from campus for a while, they have not taken much other action.

The amount of antisemitic crime in Germany first of all constitutes physical violence. This violence is perpetuated by the social structure of education, such as in these universities, where there aren't enough initiatives creating understanding of Jewish people. This also creates much symbolic violence for Jewish people as even in higher education they may live life fearing possible retribution because of their identity and place in the social hierarchy.

This is similar to the issue in Working the Night Shift where women faced symbolic, structural, and physical violence because of notions about their place (which were historically motivated, just like with antisemitism in Germany). It is also similar to the discrimination that the Triqui people face in fresh fruit, broken bodies, in that Jewish people must live in fear (symbolic violence) and internalize the idea that they are less worthy/internalize their place on the hierarchy. The structures in place (which include a lack of education for those in positions of power) contribute to the violence in all cases.

Connection to ethnography: Pretty Modern

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This article discusses the differences between the new male and female Olympic track outfits from Nike. There is controversy as the women's attire is much more revealing than the men's and many are upset that the women's outfits are sexualized whereas the men's are just functional.

This connects to the concept of power as those in power have control over the expectations and pressure each person (and gender) faces - while those under power must face/succumb to these expectations. In this situation, similar to Pretty Modern, there isn't one specific person but more a systematic situation where certain categories (in this case gender, and specifically females) lack the agency/power over their beings and have specific expectations they must deal with that determine their "value" as a person. In Pretty Modern, the women are upheld to unrealistic expectations of beauty which directly influence their status and consequently power in society. Similar to this, women in the U.S. are judged (some argue not as much as in Brazil) based on their appearance and sexual appeal. This outfit choice from Nike is an example of how these ideals are projected and incorporated into society.

This issue connects to both Learning Capitalist Culture and Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. It connects to Learning Capitalist Culture in relation to the way students of color were treated differently in the classroom, and the racism engrained in society contributed to teachers having lower expectations for students of color. This then impacted their self esteem and undoubtedly had impacts on their educational and personal development. This issue also relates to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies in the sense that exposure to trauma and adversity in relation to poverty and racism presented itself in forms of physical violence, injury, and struggles with mental health for migrant workers, that then allowed others to perpetuate stereotypes about them. Without resources available to deal with these struggles, migrant workers become stuck at the bottom of a social, class, and racial hierarchy.

This connects to types of structural violence specifically between the different nations and operation against the Israeli government and other forms of symbolic violence. IRGC had called Israel "zionists" and people have been debating whether or not the missiles successfully attacked the hit targets. This could be the cause of a regional conflict as Israel has been warning Iran about attacks on their own soil, while Iran has been warning the US about their implementation of additional assets in the war and that US bases would then be part of an attack as well. The attacks can be a form of symbolic violence as it can show the power differences between these countries. This connects to multiple of the books such as people living on the Tanaka farm and migrant workers versus the white workers based on the power dynamic in the hierarchy and agency to act towards different people.

In the 1990s, extremists in Bosnia and Herzegovina terrorized civilians into leaving their homes and as the UN implemented the "right to remain" to prevent ethnic cleansing, European states used it as a rationale to block asylum seekers. Now, 2.3 million Palestinians are trapped in Gaza, with over 1 million fleeing to Rafah. Human Rights Watch calls for Israel to respect the right of Palestinians to return to their displaced areas and Palestinian refugees to return to Israel but authorities continue to violate international law, prohibiting Palestinians from returning.

This article demonstrates an abuse of power as Israelian authorities have repeatdely violated international law as they've denied Palestinians from returning while simultaneously preventing them from fleeing Gaza to neighboring Israel to seek refuge. Additionally, social relations can be seen between the countries as Egypt's borders also remain closed for the most part and neighboring countries aren't aiding the fleeing Palestinians. This article also connects to Fresh Fruit Broken bodies, although under severely different circumstances, both Palestinians and the Triqui people are suffering from forced displacement and violence as they attempt to leave their home countries.

Connection to Anthro: These children, and the general population of Sudan and neighboring countries, are facing a human rights violation due to the symbolic violence being exhibited between the two generals. Sudan is currently in a "who can get away with what, against who" fight. In some ways, there is a connection from this to FFBB, where those in power have the most agency, and are using said agency to hurt others for their own benefit. They might not even be considering the impact their violence is having, similar to the way border patrol officials treat crossing migrants.

A coalition of activist groups filed a lawsuit to change abortion laws.

Human rights, inequality, structural violence.

In pretty modern and in this article women are challengling cultural beliefs to create change.

In DR Congo citizens face many issues that displace them. Living conditions are dire and there are many threats to the livelihood of many individuals.

This connects to different forms of violence, especially behavioral that disproportionally affect women. "30,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported in the DRC in 2023. These numbers are among the highest in the world." The factors that have displaced citizens are push factors as they are driving people to have to forcefully leave in order to survive.

Haiti faces violence, poverty, and many human rights violations, their strife has been experienced for a very long time, either due to natural disasters or political instability.

This situation is similar to the state of Oaxaca and San Miguel in Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, they're facing violence and corruption from gangs as well as a failing economy struggling from globalization.