Injury and therapy: proletarianization in Puerto Rico's fisheries

Griffith, David Craig; Valdés Pizzini, Manuel; Johnson, Jeffrey C.

article

Injury and therapy: proletarianization in Puerto Rico's fisheries

American ethnologist • 19 (1) • Published In 1992 • Pages: 53-74

By: Griffith, David Craig, Valdés Pizzini, Manuel, Johnson, Jeffrey C..

Abstract
The authors assert that peasant fishermen throughout Latin American and the Caribbean region typically combine fishing with wage labor in varying degrees. This particular behavior has been interpreted by some scholars as an indication of incomplete incorporation into capitalist spheres of influence as the result of contradictions which "... emerge as groups attempt to maintain economic and cultural autonomy while being subordinated to capitalist relations of production" (p. 53). This article attempts to show how the political and conceptual consequences of this process take place among Puerto Rican fishermen. Griffith et al. conclude that the fishermen, as the result of their participation in the general economy, have utilized the terms of "class" and "therapy" and have adapted these concepts to the politics and semantics of fishing.

Subjects

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Adjustment processes

Life history materials

Functional and adaptational interpretations

Fishing

Production and supply

Labor supply and employment

Ownership and control of capital

Cooperative organization

culture

Puerto Ricans (Island)