April 7, 2023 Noon in University Hall 432
Dr. Christian Zlolniski Colloquium
“Plundering the Commons: Extraction and Commodification of Beach Pebbles in Mexico for US Markets in the Age of Climate Change”
Driven by the demand for environmentally friendly materials and “aesthetic” landscapes in the United States, there has been an increase in the extraction of beach pebbles in Mexico. The extraction of beach pebbles is the main source of income for many indigenous workers in Baja California, who constitute an army of invisible workers employed in precarious conditions in remote locations. Zlolniski will examine these new forms of labor precarity that have emerged along with the expansion of extractive industries.
Christian Zlolniski is Professor of anthropology and Research Associate at the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) at the University of Texas at Arlington. His research focuses on labor and transnational migration with regional emphasis on the U.S.-Mexico border. He is the author of Made in Baja: The Lives of Farmworkers and Growers behind Mexico’s Transnational Agricultural Boom (UC Press 2019), which examines the labor, social, and ecological effects of exporting fresh produce from Northern Mexico to the United States. He is also the author of Janitors, Street Vendors and Activists: The Lives of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley (University of California Press 2006). He regularly publishes articles on issues of labor precarity, labor unions, the informal economy, and transnational migration in English and Spanish. He is the editor of the journal Mexican Studies/ Estudios Mexicanos published by University of California Press.