Race, Gender and Mediated Representations in the Farah Strike
Abstract
May 1972, 4,000 garment workers at Farah Manufacturing Company in El Paso went out on strike for the right to be represented by a union. The strike against Farah was the first major social movement in the El Paso area in modern times. Over 80% of the striking workers were Latina. The female employees at Farah were at the forefront of the Chicana feminist movement. The labor battle at Farah proves the organic link between Chicana feminism and class struggle. The Farah strike caused a new family dynamic to rise from the ashes of the traditional Mexican household. Using Burke's terministic screens and framing theory as a lens through which to view newspaper articles and films produced during the strike I hope to discover the way in which race and gender are framed in the media representations of these striking workers, their unions, and their families in national media outlets and documentary film of the time. National and local newspapers were chosen to give a wider breadth of assortment when analyzing print media. The role that gender, race, and social memory played in their portrayal.
Subject Area
Gender studies|Labor relations|Hispanic American studies|Journalism
Recommended Citation
Minnich, Matthew D, "Race, Gender and Mediated Representations in the Farah Strike" (2020). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI28090712.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI28090712