Roots of resistance : a story of gender, race, and labor on the North Coast of Honduras / Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Portillo Villeda, Suyapa G., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

General Strike, Honduras, 1954.

Strikes and lockouts--Banana trade--Honduras--History--20th century.

Strikes and lockouts.

Labor movement--Honduras--History.

Labor movement.

Women in the labor movement--Honduras--History.

Women in the labor movement.

Banana trade--Honduras--History--20th century.

Banana trade.

Strikes and lockouts--Banana trade.

History.

Honduras.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 385 pages1 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021.

Summary:

"On May 1, 1954, striking banana workers on the North Coast of Honduras brought the regional economy to a standstill, invigorating the Honduran labor movement and articulating a series of demands on the US-controlled banana industry. Their actions ultimately galvanized a broader working-class struggle and reawakened long-suppressed leftist ideals. The first account of its kind in English, Roots of Resistance explores contemporary Honduran labor history through the story of the great banana strike of 1954 and centers the role of women in the narrative of the labor movement. Drawing on extensive firsthand oral history and archival research, Suyapa Portillo Villeda examines the radical organizing that challenged US capital and foreign intervention in Honduras at the onset of the Cold War. She reveals the everyday acts of resistance that laid the groundwork for the 1954 strike and argues that these often-overlooked forms of resistance should inform analyses of present-day labor and community organizing. This book highlights the complexities of transnational company hierarchies, gender and race relations, and labor organizing that led to the banana-workers strike and how these dynamics continue to reverberate in Honduras today"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Honduran workers

new voices, old memories

Intersecting projects: contested visions for the North Coast

Revolutionary antecedents to the 1954 strike: liberals, rebels and radicals

Life and labor in banana fincas

The making of a campeño and campeña culture: race, gender, and resistance

'Mujeres que cuidaban hombres y vendedoras ambulantes': gendered roles and informal work on the North Coast

¡La Gran Huelga del 1954!: labor organizing in the banana labor camps

Contemporary movement leaders reflect on the legacy of the 1954 strike

Conclusion

Appendices. Los 30 puntos: Tela Railroad Company worker demands

Central strike committee 7 demands of company and Honduran government, May 17, 1954

Standard Fruit Company worker strike demands, May 7 1954

Signed contract between Standard Fruit Company, Agúan Valley, the members of the central strike for labor relations

Program of the Honduran Revolutionary Democratic Party

Brief selected chronology of labor and political events in Honduras

Table of early signs of worker actions and strikes in Honduras.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Portillo Villeda, Suyapa G. Roots of resistance.

ISBN:

9781477322185

1477322183

OCLC:

1143794333