An Intersectional Approach to Agency and Structure
The chapter, intended for undergraduate students, explains the concepts of structure and agency and identify how structures shape people’s lives, as seen in the case of some Latinx immigrant and refugee youths in Canada, and how—in turn—they respond to those structures by exerting their agency.
Hernández-Ramírez, A. (2023). An Intersectional Approach to Agency and Structure. In J. Jean-Pierre, V. Watts, C. E. James, P. Albanese, X. Chen, and M. Graydon (Eds.), Reading Sociology. Decolonizing Canada. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. Pp. 196-201.
Occupational Niche Locations of Canada’s Latin American Workforce: Explorations Using 2016 Census Data
Although the Latin American workforce in Canada has been steadily growing in the last couple of decades, we still know little about this population. Using a sample of ethnic classifications from the 2016 Census, Dr. Fernando Mata from the University of Ottawa and I (Concordia University) explore Latin American first- and second-generation workers’ location in occupational niches who reported some employment income in Canada in 2015. We will present our findings at the Canadian Sociological Association 2021 meeting (CSA@Congress 2021).
The Latin American sub-population, who self-identified under one of 21 Latin American ethnicities, represents approximately 360,700 male and female workers aged 25-64, with different periods of residence in Canada and birthplace status. By crisscrossing this data with the NOC 2016, we identified the clustering of Latin Americans in ten occupational niches, which range from management and sciences to services and manufacturing. We found that the Canadian Latin American workforce consists of a highly stratified arrangement of workers, with significant variability in their occupational location in terms of ethnicity, gender, and time spent in Canada.
Furthermore, an examination of occupational and employment earnings data suggests that many Latinas/os are typically inserted into low-paying niches. This condition is strongly exacerbated by gender, since even women located in the white-collar-oriented primary labour market experience significant income discrepancies vis-à-vis men, indicating strong disadvantages for many Latin American women. Some qualitative cases coming from a previous research on Latin American youth in Canada are added to enrich the findings.
Montreal as Canada’s COVID-19 epicenter. Some factors that can help to explain why six Montreal boroughs are Canada’s COVID-19 epicenter (May 28, 2020)
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal health senior officials and some provincial chief medical officers, including those from Quebec, refuse to collect comprehensive socio-demographic data on health. This is despite the fact that 81% of all COVID-19 cases in Canada have resulted from community transmission, that some communities across Canada with a large percentage of Black residents present increased COVID-19 rates, and that the lowest income group in Toronto had the highest rate of COVID-19 cases.
Previous research indicates that disparities caused by factors such as employment, income, education, gender, race and ethnicity, including experiences of discrimination, racism and historical trauma, create health inequalities. These factors are known as social determinants of health.
Using descriptive statistics and 2016 Montreal statistics and census data, I show that the six Montreal boroughs most affected by COVID‑19 exhibit a range of disadvantageous socio-demographic factors. Used as hypotheses, these indicators can reveal potential rich areas of further data collection and research on the social determinants of health, particularly when we consider that a second wave of COVID-19 is expected soon. See rest of the article in English here or en français ici.
The Political Economy of Immigration Securitization: Nation-Building and Racialization in Canada
Studies in Political Economy, 2019, Volume 100, Issue 2, p. 111-131.
This article uses theories of political economy, immigration securitization, and critical race theory, and uses two historical periods as case studies, to advance our understanding of how immigration has been securitized across various scales, fields, and temporalities since the nineteenth century. The racialization and Othering of individuals identified as a risk to Canada’s nation-building project led to the constitution of diverse security formations. Each formation included social and national components, even if weighted differently depending on their context.
Access the online article here (free access for a short period of time): https://tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/07078552.2019.1646452
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: The Use (and Black Out) of Technology by Students for Students in the Classroom
“Every single time I attend an undergraduate course as a TA, particularly those massive first year courses with 300+ enrolments, I see students watching movies, browsing their Facebook wall, listening to music, and ‘whatsapping’ while in class. Although not all students engage in these practices, it is undeniable that young people who have grown up surrounded by new technology see it as a ‘natural’ added extension of their daily interactions. This poses a challenge for older generations – senior and younger professors alike – and creates a technological divide that may constitute a hindrance for the students’ educational processes.
…the use of technology in class needs to be performed not only by the teacher but by students as well, [for which] technology ‘add-ons’ need to be part of a lesson plan design that also includes blackout technology periods to better integrate students’ and teachers’ expectations.
You can find the full blog post here.
Rural Young People: The New Actors of Migration to the United States? / Los jóvenes rurales, ¿nuevos actores de la migración a Estados Unidos?
(English) This chapter gives an account of the primordial and active participation of poor, Mexican youth (from six Mexican rural communities) in internal migration processes between 1930-1989, and undocumented migration to the United States between 1950-1989. I analyze the reasons for their migration and the unique roles they played both in their households and towns. Considering that Mexican-US migration research has not paid attention to (rural) young people as relevant subjects of migration, and that there is an incipient development of rural youth studies in Mexico, the article is well suited to address these topics. The research allowed me to show that youth migration is not new, as some have argued, but rather that youth migration responded, in general, to their limited and/or changing structures of opportunities, to their little access or shortage of assets, to depressed regional and national labour markets, and to a historical degree of vulnerability in indigenous villages, where religion and social customs played an important role. And for a few youth, migration was an advancement strategy that allowed them to increase their relative prosperity. Nonetheless, it is important to emphasize that, in all cases of migration to cities, there was a personal and pivotal reason that impelled young people to migrate as part of a domestic strategy: the desire to support the acquisition of human capital for their children and/or siblings, and provide them with better life opportunities.
(Spanish) El capítulo da cuenta de la participación de jóvenes pobres mexicanos de seis comunidades rurales en los procesos de migración interna (entre 1930 y 1989) y de migración internacional (entre 1950 y 1989), y analiza las causas de sus migraciones y los roles que jugaron en sus hogares y pueblos. Tomando en cuenta que la investigación de la migración México-Estados Unidos no han puesto atención a las juventudes rurales como sujetos de estudio, y que los estudios de juventudes rurales que existen en México, el capítulo aporta información relevante para la discusión. La investigación me permite demostrar que las migraciones de los jóvenes no son nuevas, como algunos proponen, pero además que en todas las comunidades estas migraciones respondieron en general a sus limitadas o cambiantes estructuras de oportunidades; a su reducido acceso o ausencia de activos; a los deprimidos mercados laborales regionales y nacionales en que se encontraban; y a un grado histórico de vulnerabilidad en las comunidades indígenas, donde la religión y las costumbres sociales jugaron una parte importante. Para muy pocos jóvenes de estos pueblos, la migración fue una estrategia de avance o promoción que les ayudó a incrementar su bienestar familiar. No obstante, es importante enfatizar que en todos los casos de migraciones a las ciudades, hubo una razón central y personal que motivó a los jóvenes a migrar como parte de una estrategia doméstica: el deseo de apoyar la adquisición de capital humano para sus hijas/os o hermanas/os, buscando proveerles con mejores opciones para su futuro.
Download here/ Descargar aquí: Los jóvenes rurales: ¿Nuevos actores de la migración a Estados Unidos?
Cómo citar en APA: Hernández-Ramírez, A. (2008). Los jóvenes rurales: ¿nuevos actores de la migración a Estados Unidos? En A. Escobar Latapí (Ed.), Pobreza y migración internacional (pp. 173–222). México: CIESAS (ISBN 978-968-496-652-9)
Picture: Pizcando cherry, California 2010, by Sari Denisse CC by-nc 2.0
Sex, Drugs, and TV. About Media, Sexuality, and Health among Middle-Class Teenagers in Guadalajara, Jalisco / Sexo, droga y TV. De medios, sexualidad y salud en adolescentes clasemedieros de Guadalajara, Jalisco
El presente artículo se origina de la investigación Medios de comunicación y salud pública: la voz de los adolescentes, realizada en Guadalajara, Jalisco, que constituyó una parte del proyecto Comsalud Latinoamérica. Comsalud se realizó en Argentina, Honduras, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Perú, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, República Dominicana y México, y fue financiada por la Organización Panamericana de la Salud. En este último país, el protocolo se aplicó y coordinó en Guadalajara por la Dra. María Martha Collignon (ITESO), y se replicó en Toluca, Estado de México (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México). La pregunta que dirigió al proyecto fue: ¿cuál es y qué características tiene el rol de los medios de comunicación en la cotidianeidad de los adolescentes en América Latina, particularmente en el ámbito de la salud? La población de estudio fueron adolescente (hombres y mujeres) de doce a diecinueve años, quienes participaron en grupos focales con un cuestionario que se replicó en todos los países. El presente artículo muestra el análisis de los discursos de adolescentes varones de clase media que participaron en grupos focales en la ciudad de Guadalajara. Para el análisis se utilizó la técnica del análisis argumentativo, y se muestran los hallazgos de los tres ejes de la investigación: medios, salud y sexualidad.
Download here/ Descargar aquí: Sexo, droga y TV. De medios, sexualidad, y salud en adolescentes clasemedieros de Guadalajara
Cómo citar en APA: Hernández-Ramírez, A. (2006). Sexo, droga y TV. De medios, sexualidad y salud en adolescentes clasemedieros de Guadalajara, Jalisco. En M. Vizcarra & A. Fernández (Eds.), Disertaciones. Aproximaciones al conocimiento de la juventud (pp. 147–74). Guadalajara: Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco/Instituto Jalisciense de la Juventud/Red Jalisciense de Investigadores sobre Juventud. (ISBN: 9685647402 9789685647403, OCLC Number: 316355093).
Picture: Sexualidad, by Francisco Roblero (CC by-nc 2.0)
Uncovering Health and Sexuality in the Media. Media and Public Health: Teenager’s Voices /Descubriendo la salud y la sexualidad en los medios. Medios de comunicación y salud pública. La voz de los adolescents
Este estudio, enmarcado en otro más amplio, de alcance latinoamericano, explora en San Luis Potosí, México, el impacto que puede tener en la salud el consumo de los medios por parte de los adolescentes; conocer de primera mano lo que en realidad piensan y las formas en cómo actúan; cómo los medios de comunicación y el entretenimiento mediático afectan el desarrollo de conceptos como salud, enfermedad y prevención de enfermedades; así como el uso que los adolescentes hacen de los medios en cuanto a la búsqueda de información respecto a la prevención del VIH/SIDA, el consumo de tabaco, el uso del condón, etc.
Download here/ Descargar aquí: Descubriendo la salud y la sexualidad en los medios. Medios de comunicación y salud pública. La voz de los adolescentes