Daily Labors: Marketing Identity and Bodies on a New York City Street Corner

213 Pages·2019·1.14 MB·English

by  Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

Daily Labors

Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky
Daily Labors
Marketing Identity and Bodies on
a New York City Street Corner
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia • Rome • Tokyo
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
tupress.temple.edu
Copyright © 2019 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System
of Higher Education
All rights reserved
Published 2019
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pinedo-Turnovsky, Carolyn, 1974– author.
Title: Daily labors : marketing identity and bodies on a New York City street
corner / Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky.
Description: Philadelphia : Temple University Press, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018030485 (print) | LCCN 2018033102 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781439917442 (E-Book) | ISBN 9781439917428 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781439917435 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Day laborers—New York (State)—New York. | Foreign
workers—New York (State)—New York. | Marginality, Social—New York
(State)—New York.
Classification: LCC HD5854.2.U6 (ebook) | LCC HD5854.2.U6 P56 2019 (print) |
DDC 331.5/44097471—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018030485
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
I. Making Good Workers
1. Street-Corner Workers 23
2. With One Look: Compadre’s Corner 45
3. Sergio and William: Becoming and Being “(Il)legal” 66
4. Daily Masculinity 81
II. Making Community
5. Entre Nosotros 101
6. Street-Corner Community 116
7. Methodology and Assessment of Doing This Fieldwork 139

Conclusion 159

Notes 169
References 179
Index 193

Acknowledgments
Ethnography is complicated. In research, in fieldwork, and in writing
about the intimate lives of people, the work ultimately revolves
around a complex, delicate, and messy set of activities and unrefined
ideas. For me this describes, at the very least, the ongoing scrutiny and revi-
sion that consumed my efforts to learn as much as possible about the work-
ers on a Brooklyn street corner and to faithfully communicate their narra-
tives. To all of the workers who agreed to talk with me, teach me, and inform
my fieldwork on the corner—in particular, those quoted in this book—I am
humbly indebted. Without their support, data collection would have been
difficult, if not impossible. I can only hope that this snapshot of their lives
will provoke thoughtful discussions among readers, advance policy discus-
sion for their better treatment and inclusion, and enhance our knowledge
about their life stories.
Single authorship in some ways is illusory. I am acutely aware of the
many people who have generously offered me intellectual and emotional sup-
port throughout my academic career. At the City University of New York
Graduate Center, a collective of faculty members supported my intellectual
growth and training. I especially acknowledge my dissertation committee,
whose members ensured that I could tackle the empirical and theoretical
puzzles that scaffolded the book in its earliest form. Conversations with Phil-
ip Kasinitz, the committee’s chair, were always enjoyable; his mentorship
viii Acknowledgments
struck a good balance in discussion about the research, the writing process,
and living life as a whole. Mitchell Duneier, William Kornblum, and Robert
Courtney Smith helped me to not only think through the fieldwork in a way
that trained my sociological eye to recognize the subtleties throughout but
also perceive missteps as just as instructive as breakthroughs in constructing
the ethnographic story. Along the way, colleagues have read drafts and
shared their expertise to help refine the manuscript. At the University of
California, San Diego, where I was a predoctoral fellow, jointly housed in the
Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and the Center for U.S.-Mexi-
co Studies, I found crucial intellectual and political sustenance among the
group of young scholars I was fortunate to join. I thank Deborah Boehm,
Xavier Escandell, Lieba Faier, Jon Fox, Nadia Kim, Gabriela Sandoval, Maria
Tapias, and Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda.
I was honored to receive the prestigious University of California Presi-
dential Postdoctoral fellowship, which gave me the time and opportunity to
work more closely with Abel Valenzuela, a leading scholar in day-labor stud-
ies. Though short, my time at the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA), was intellectually and personally rewarding in enabling me to forge
friendships with not only Abel but also Ana Luz Gonzalez, David Manuel
Hernández, and Victor Narro at the UCLA Labor Center, all of which com-
bined to provide a nurturing home for my research and community engage-
ment. I also thank the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, which pro-
vided me with a small grant early in my tenure at the University of
Washington, and Andrew Hedden, the center’s associate director, who has
deepened my connections to labor studies and to students in pursuit of jus-
tice for workers.
Early in my career, I benefited from having an academic home in the
Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I
value greatly the mentorship of and intellectual exchanges with colleagues
in the Department of Sociology. For their constructive criticism in collo-
quia, research collaborations, and work with community organizations, I
thank Eileen Boris, Nikki Jones, George Lipsitz, Victor Rios, Belén Seara,
and Howard Winant. Delightful and dear friendships were cultivated here
with Inés Dolores Casillas, G. Reginald (Reg) Daniel, erin Khue Ninh, Anne
Maurseth, and Denise Segura, who not only kept me steady on my profes-
sional path but also nurtured my sense of life, in all its vivacity. An aca-
demic family can acquire new meanings over time. I was fortunate indeed
to find a new academic home at the University of Washington (UW) in a
joint appointment to the Department of American Ethnic Studies (AES)
Acknowledgments ix
and the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice (LSJ). I thank my col-
leagues in LSJ, affiliate faculty, and graduate students, who provided me
with discerning assessments of the works I submitted in workshares. Of
these, I acknowledge Katherine Beckett, who carefully read through my
prospectus and offered constructive feedback on Chapters 1 and 3. For their
support that nurtured my growth as a scholar, a teacher, a colleague, and a
mentor, I thank Leisy Abrego, Lynn Chancer, Joanna Dreby, Sylvanna Fal-
cón, Kathie Friedman, Herbert Gans, Shannon Gleeson, Roberto Gonzales,
Cindi Katz, Ruth Milkman, Tyina Steptoe, and Ayşe Toksöz. Friendship
cannot adequately describe the bonds of care and support I have received
over the years, particularly in those leading up to the book’s final produc-
tion. Kate and Brian Deimling bring me a sense of reprieve and comfort,
whenever I am home in Brooklyn, that slows down the fast-paced beltway
of academic life. An affectionate note of gratitude goes to members of
WIRED (Women Investigating Race, Ethnicity, and Difference) for creating
purposeful spaces for professional development, as well as personal medita-
tion and amusement.
The expression and delivery of the arguments in this book benefited
greatly from editorial assistance from Heather Arvindson and Diana Breti
(who also assisted with related works in recent years) and Susan Deeks and
Joan Vidal. I thank Elliot Linzer, who prepared the index, and I sincerely
acknowledge my sister, Debbie Pinedo, for her insights on the book’s cover.
Any flaws that remain in this book are, of course, my responsibility alone. I
am deeply appreciative of the dedicated efforts and resources that many in-
dividuals—too many to name—at Temple University Press contributed at the
different stages of this book’s production. I thank the anonymous readers
solicited by Temple University Press for their constructive recommenda-
tions, which helped strengthen the content of my ideas and framework of my
arguments. I greatly appreciate the efforts of my editor, Ryan Mulligan, who
has been unfailingly supportive and patient. He endorsed the project from
the start and remained responsive, instructive, and encouraging through-
out—a wonderful experience for a first-time author.
Administratively, AES, designated my “home department” at the Uni-
versity of Washington, truly became a second-home space for me. Among
colleagues, I found that interactions on and off campus, usually in sync with
hearty laughter, kept me plugging away at the next task. I thank our current
AES chair, Juan Guerra, who is advancing the next iteration of our depart-
mental community. Our new colleagues Jang Wook Huh, TaSha Levy, Alina
Mendez, and Linh Nguyen sustain my commitment to the thriving future