Abstracts on Alcohol Studies done by Dr. Victor Garcia
(Click on title for more information including available works regarding the project.)
This ethnographic research project, “Problem Drinking and Transnational Mexican Farmworkers: Exploring Predisposing Factors in Their Homeland,” builds on alcohol observations made in Guanajuato, Mexico, over the summers from 1994 to 1998. Drawing on these observations, Drs. Garcia and Gonzalez examined predisposing characteristics in the municipality of Irapuato, Guanajuato, such as family drinking history and community drinking norms and practices, that contribute to problem drinking among transnational migrants. The research was carried out in conjunction with an ethnographic field methods course taught in the municipality. Eleven undergraduate students were divided into three teams, and each team visited one of three communities—Serrano, Buenos Aires, and Santa Barbara—at different times of the day and evening and observed community life and drinking activities. Two graduate students lived in their communities of study, one in La Calera and the other in San Antonio, Texas, in the same municipality. Drs. Garcia and Gonzalez and the students recorded information about the sale of alcohol beverages, advertisement of alcoholic beverages, and alcohol consumption in their research communities. They paid attention to who was drinking, what was being consumed, when and where the drinking took place, and the type of behavior exhibited during alcohol consumption. These research tasks were carried out over a six-week period from June 1 to July 15, 1999. The findings of the research contributed to the development of a migration-based model of problem drinking which helped Dr. Garcia and his colleagues to obtain funds for a larger research project.
This project, “Problem Drinking among Migrant Mexican Farmworkers,” addresses problem drinking among Mexican migrants employed in the mushroom industry in Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The researchers, Drs. Garcia and Gonzalez, are exploring the relationship between situational factors (i.e., living arrangements, social isolation, and peer influence) and problem drinking, defined as binge drinking and heavy drinking associated with antisocial behavior (i.e., belligerent behavior and drinking and driving). Predisposing factors, such as the migrants’ family history of drinking and drinking practices in Mexico, are also considered. Two complementary field studies are being conducted in mushroom-producing municipalities in Southern Chester County. First, a community-level ethnography is being constructed from a field study of direct observation and informant interviews to identify the community context of problem drinking. Second, case studies of twelve migrants, based on in-depth interviews, genealogies, and collateral interviews, are helping to identify the relationship of situational factors to problem drinking. The subjects for the case studies will reflect the demographics of the migrants and categories of living arrangements derived from previous research at the site. The qualitative research methods used in the study will reduce the problems inherent in gaining access to a hidden population in order to conduct research on sensitive issues. The data will be analyzed and summarized using a computer data management system for cross-verification of the various sources and across levels (i.e., community and individual). The findings of the research will provide direction for migrant policies, intervention programs, and future research.
The project “Ethnographic/Social Science/Community-Based Model to Recruit and Retain Hispanics” links community colleges and their Latino students with a four-year institution through a cooperative curriculum, shared student services, and faculty collaborations and to develop interinstitutional efforts dedicated to improving the scientific expertise and interest of undergraduate students. This innovative project develops a strategy for recruiting, retaining, and enabling Hispanic students to make the transition from two- to four-year programs and attain a B.A. or B.S. degree in the social sciences and related areas. It implements a university, community college, and family-based ethnographic model project within the Latino communities of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
A significant smaller percentage of Latinos attend community colleges and four-year higher educational institutions than other groups. Major barriers for Latinos to attending community college and making the transition to a four-year institution that this project addresses are : (1) monetary difficulties, (2) social and cultural distance from higher educational institutions, (3) lack of clarity of the relevance of such education and its time-consuming nature, and (4) insufficient preparation for upper-level work. The purpose of this three-year project is to design and implement a model project within the Latino communities of the Dallas/Fort Worth area that will address these four major barriers.
The potential contribution of the proposed project is that it will provide a community-based, self-understanding approach that higher educational institutions can use to reach out to this important ethnic group. It provides an academically grounded yet community-based strategy to mentoring by linking community and academic role models to students with academic potential while simultaneously providing information useful to neighborhood associations and community leaders. This project will help us understand the extent to which academic achievement of low-income and ethnic groups marginally linked to higher education is dependent on seeing practical connections between their studies and the “real world” they come from and know. Although local in design, the project has national significance as the problem and its characteristic are national in scope.
