Fighting in Agricultural Areas of the Southeastern United States

Abstract

In the scientific literature, interest in male aggression is driven by views that consuming alcohol increases the likelihood of fighting. This literature mostly focuses on barrooms. Ethnographic research generally stays clear of associating bars with fighting by exploring the expressive dimensions of drunken comportment and/or (less often) the antecedents to fighting, which may take place in a variety of settings. Based on long-term fieldwork among farm laborers across the Eastern and Midwestern United States, and an analysis of field data from one agricultural home-base community, this article examines implications of fighting among farmworkers who spend time in bars and taverns (la cantina) and/or the street (la calle). Street settings were found to be more volatile than bars and taverns in agricultural areas in relation to “scrapping” among men, and, thus, more likely to end in fight-related injury. Nonetheless, men often engaged in forms of impression management that expressed their masculinity, as well as effectively avoided potential violence and possible injury.