Immigrants provide a significant amount of agricultural labor in the United States and often live and work in exploitative conditions and substandard housing. Farmworkers are willing to accept poor quality or crowded housing provided by their employer because it is difficult to find alternate housing options due to fear, lack of housing availability, severe financial […]
This summer, while conducting research on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, we encountered new groups of migrants who came directly from Venezuela to work in the tomato fields and packing plants. According to local providers, many of whom have over 20 years of experience serving the area, migration to the Eastern Shore from Venezuela is a relatively […]
Maryland ranks as the wealthiest state in the country, yet the Eastern Shore of Maryland has some of the highest poverty rates, poorest health status, and the greatest need for health care access in the state. Somerset County, nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is the southernmost county in Maryland. It is […]
The poultry industry in the United States is the world’s largest producer of poultry meat. Our consumption of poultry meat is considerably higher than beef or pork. The Delmarva Peninsula, an area 200 miles long that includes part of Delaware and the 11 Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and Virginia, is the fifth largest poultry […]
This summer’s research was focused on Mexican women crab pickers living and working on Hooper’s Island, a chain of three islands located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Hooper’s Island is located between the Honga River and Chesapeake Bay, 20 miles south of Cambridge in Dorchester County, Maryland. Hooper’s Island was permanently settled by European colonists in […]
On September 18-19, 2014, I participated in a conference co-hosted by the Center for the History of the New America and the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland exploring the connections between migration, race, disease, and public health. Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, gave the keynote address. […]
Please check out my entry on “HIV/AIDS” for the Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology here. Published by Oxford University Press and edited by John L. Jackson, Jr., Oxford Bibliographies are research guides on specific topics.
The final report of the Maryland Marcellus Shale Public Health Study was released today by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Clifford Mitchell gave a presentation to the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission this afternoon. More information is available from the DHMH Marcellus Shale and Public Health webpage. A copy of […]
What is now known as Westover labor camp located on Route 13 south of Princess Anne in Somerset County was originally Camp Somerset, a Civilian Conservation Corp camp that was built in 1935. When it was first built, it housed 270 men in about 17 buildings including a kitchen, a mess hall, a recreation hall, […]
Emilia Guevara, a new PhD student in the Anthropology Department at the University of Maryland, began her work with me on this project in late July. We made several trips to the Eastern Shore to conduct fieldwork, including interviews with providers and community members. Despite the large number of migrants and immigrants who live here, […]