Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora: Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana

by Norma Iglesias Prieto, Michael Stone, Gabrielle Winkler, Henry A. Selby

Overview

Published originally as La flor mas bella de la maquiladora, this beautifully written book is based on interviews the author conducted with more than fifty Mexican women who work in the assembly plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. A descriptive analytic study conducted in the late 1970s, the book uses compelling testimonials to detail the struggles these women face.

The experiences of women in maquiladoras are attracting increasing attention from scholars, especially in the context of ongoing Mexican migration to the country's northern frontier and in light of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This book is among the earliest accounts of the physical and psychological toll exacted from the women who labor in these plants. Iglesias Prieto captures the idioms of these working women so that they emerge as dynamic individuals, young and articulate personalities, inexorably engaged in the daily struggle to change the fundamental conditions of their exploitation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292738690
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	06/01/1997
Series:	LLILAS Translations from Latin America Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	143
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Norma Iglesias Prieto teaches at the Centro de Estudios Fronterizos del Norte de México in Tijuana. Translator Michael Stone is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Hartwick College in New York. Gabrielle Winkler holds an M.A. from the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• Translators' Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Meeting the Demand
• 2. The Realm of Work
• 3. We Women Are More Responsible
• 4. Maquila Muchachas: Pretty Young Maids
• 5. Who I Am, Where I Come From, and Where I'm Going
• 6. Most Beautiful Flower of the Maquiladora
• 7. Solidev: An Embattled Maquiladora
• 8. By Way of Conclusion
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Vicki L. Ruiz

Poignant and powerful, this work is a tribute to the dignity of the human spirit. It should be required reading for policymakers on both sides of the political border separating Mexico and the United States.
— Vicki L. Ruiz, Professor of History and Women's Studies, Arizona State University