Abstract
In this fine ethnography, Jill Harrison outlines changes wrought by globalization and the incursion of cheap, offshore, farm-raised shrimp on shrimp fishers in a small Southern Louisiana town. The book carefully presents the economic processes that led to the current conditions in the shrimp industry. Along the way, Harrison demonstrates how the changes in the shrimp industry are similar to the deindustrialization of the United States in other sectors. The comparison with the steel industry is especially helpful in noting the similarities faced by communities who are subject to the vicissitudes of changing global industrial production. Harrison’s accounts of change are not simply descriptions of economic change but also rich analyses of how the changing context of workers’ lives leads them to react. A systematic analysis of changes in the shrimp industry is juxtaposed with a nuanced account of the lives of fishers.
Harrison’s background growing up in a family sustained by the steel industry gives the reader a sense that this researcher understands the many problems that face the victims of deindustrialization. Harrison’s childhood neighborhood changed from a solid working-class community to a place of loss and hardship. Families moved but not without a feeling of loss. The account of this process is poignant and gives the reader the sense that Harrison’s experience will be important in understanding the changing lives of the fishers. Harrison does not disappoint, and brings the lives of the workers to us with a critical eye tempered with compassion.
Most of the book presents the ethnographic data on workers from fieldwork done during the mid- to late 2000s, ending on the BP Oil spill and its possible long-term effects. Harrison grounds the analysis in Hirschman’s classic theory of how workers react to industrial change but builds upon it to create a theory more applicable to the case of shrimp fishers. In the analysis of interviews, Harrison sees little evidence of Hirschman’s concept of voice: where workers participating in social movements may change the conditions of work and hold back changes in the industry. The context of the fishers is different from Hirschman’s workers, toiling in a relatively non-globalized system. Shrimpers operated in a system in which their voices seemed to matter little in the face of cheap imports and governmental regulations. Harrison’s analysis reveals a broader conceptualization of agency than Hirschman, and argues for the importance of cultural considerations in the reactions of fishers to changes in the industry. Harrison thus sets up an analysis of the ethnographic data based on both the cost-benefit analysis of Hirschman and the importance shrimp fishing has for occupational identity in the Cajun culture. This helps us understand how workers persist in occupations, even when it makes little financial sense, and how others make the rational economic choice by exiting, only to suffer emotional loss and sometimes permanent scars. Still other workers do more than persist—they employ innovative adaptation to remain in the occupation.
These three strategies to deal with changing economic conditions are reflective of different agency mindsets closely tied to identity dynamics. Harrison deftly demonstrates the importance of Cajun culture to the identities of the fishers by combining an ethnographic description of the place and the subtle inclusion of quotes to make important points. Cajuns take great pride in their independence, their ability to live off the land. They have survived in the Louisiana bayous for centuries. But the shrimp industry that has enabled Cajuns to be self-sufficient is a rather recent phenomenon historically. It was aided by technological changes in the early twentieth century enabling shrimpers to buy and operate their own boats, rather than working for large corporate outfits as wage laborers. Over time, it became a way of life for whole communities in Southern Louisiana and fit with the underlying values of independence and self-sufficiency. Concurrently, shrimp went from being an oddity, even a delicacy, to an accepted part of the American diet. Shrimp fishers thrived in this environment, building or buying their own boats, feeding their families, and contributing to the thriving and lucrative shrimping culture. But when the bottom fell out of the shrimp market, families involved in shrimping began to suffer. One would think they would simply go to the oil industry for more lucrative work. However, this was not always the case.
While some fishers did exit, it brought a heavy toll on their lives. Their identities were so bound to their occupation that leaving was harrowing. Boats were important. Families passed them down over generations and named them after loved ones; they became emotionally important as a symbol of family, culture, and success. Selling a boat was especially traumatic. Shrimping was not just a job; it was a way of life. It gave shrimpers a sense of pride, bolstered their self-esteem, and tied them together with families and friends. Shrimping enabled some to spend more time with their families and valued cultural pursuits, such as hunting. It provided the income for shrimpers to be independent and self-sustaining. Shrimping was central to their identity and community. All this was called into question, shows Harrison, when the shrimp crisis hit. Shrimpers had weathered storms and economic downturns, knowing that things would improve. But after the downturn, things were not getting better. And yet, many persisted. Harrison finds the persisters were unable to let go of their occupation because their identities are so tied up in it. A few innovated but were often met with resistance by persisters who were tied into their way of life and too frightened and inexperienced, or simply unwilling, to change.
Harrison demonstrates the importance of culture and identity in the lives of these workers and adds an important chapter to the literature on the role of identity in work. The book extends this literature by demonstrating the importance of culture, community, and family. While the factories of the rust belt often simply closed and left workers high and dry, devastating their communities, the example of the shrimp industry in Louisiana shows us how workers, when given the opportunity, will persist beyond hope, exit with scars, and sometimes, push for change in the labor process. This book helps to us to see the power that culture and non-economic rationale have in people’s decisions and how loyalty to families and communities can be central to these decision-making processes. It also demonstrates that people will find a way to adapt to globalization but not without personal consequences. I highly recommend this book for those interested in work, identity processes, globalization, and culture. It is readable and interesting. It also has an appendix that outlines methodological problems and solutions in doing ethnographies.