Human Rights in Play, Transnational Solidarity at Work: Creative Playfulness and Subversive Storytelling among the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) employs creative playfulness and subversive storytelling in their human rights campaigns and solidarity-building practices. The article focuses on three particular media to illustrate how they construct transnational solidarity: (1) son jarocho music as a med...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical sociology 2016-09, Vol.42 (6), p.861-875
Main Author: Gouge, Melissa C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Agricultural workers
Equity
Farmworkers
Food
Grass roots
Human rights
International relations
Mass media
Metaphor
Music
Programming (Broadcast)
Slavery
Social cohesion
Sociology
Sovereignty
Storytelling
Strikes
Supermarkets
Theater arts
Theft
Transnationalism
Work
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Summary:The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) employs creative playfulness and subversive storytelling in their human rights campaigns and solidarity-building practices. The article focuses on three particular media to illustrate how they construct transnational solidarity: (1) son jarocho music as a medium for organizing the March for Rights, Respect, and Fair Food targeting Publix Supermarkets for human rights abuses like wage theft; (2) mística theater as a medium for organizing the Encuentro gathering to build their campaign against Wendy’s for failing to free their supply chain from worker abuse; and (3) a grassroots community museum as a medium for building support against slavery. Creative playfulness and subversive storytelling contribute to successes built on human rights principles and realized through corporate accountability strategies. The article describes these media, and shows how they overcome challenges of building transnational solidarity. Finally, it suggests how the CIW has influenced recent farmworker strikes in Mexico.
ISSN:0896-9205
1569-1632
DOI:10.1177/0896920515603110