Fishers At Work, Workers At Sea

"Fishers at Work, Workers at Sea makes a major contribution to the literature on the anthropology and sociology of fisheries by providing an intelligent analysis of Puerto Rican fishermen which extends beyond a description of their fishing techniques and strategies and, more recently, the implications for public policy. The authors present a wealth of rich and thick data in an organized and coherent fashion...and focus upon the detailed complexities of what these fishermen bring to the increasing conflict between labor and the forces of capital." -Robert Lee Maril, Chair and Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Texas Pan American, and author of Waltzing with the Ghost of Tom Joad "The stunning accomplishment of this book is the way in which the authors have theoretically and ethnographically related deep cultural meanings not only to ecological contexts but to the stuff of political economy-the material social relationships entailed in class formation, the commodity form, and globalizing capitalism generally. Griffith and Valdes Pizzini focus on the praxis of Puerto Rican fishers and their families through a sophisticated theoretical framework that is as illuminating as it is powerful. These are the kinds of heights to which anthropology should strive. This book gives me hope for the discipline's future." -Kevin A. Yelvington, University of South Florida, and author of Producing Power: Ethnicity, Gender, and Class in a Caribbean Workplace (Temple) "This book masterfully shows how combinations of wage labor and informal independent production are still at the heart of global capitalism and the reproduction of proletariat households. Offering some of the best anthropology of labor around, the authors examine the multiple and contradictory meanings of small-scale commercial fishing in Puerto Rico: subsidy to capital, space for rest and therapy, source of pride, identity and livelihood for workers." -Ruben Hernandez-Leon, University of California, Los Angeles