Mental Health Needs of Latina Migrant Farmworkers

The current featured article in ANS is titled “Application of Postcolonial Feminist Theory, Chicana Feminist Thought, and Black Feminist Thought in Analyzing the Mental Health Needs of Latina Migrant Farmworkers – A Shared Legacy,” authored by Maria del Carmen Graf, MSN, RN, CTN-A; Ashley Ruiz, RN, BSN; Jeneile Luebke, PhD, RN; Oluwatoyin Olukotun, PhD, RN; Aisha Kendrick, MSN, APN, CNS, RNC-OB; Leslie Shaw, MSN, RN, ACNP-BC; Alexa A. Lopez, PhD; Julia Snethen, PhD, RN, FAAN; Eva Silvestre, PhD; and Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, PhD, RN. You can download the article from the ANS website at no cost while it is featured. This message from lead author Maria del Carmen Graf shares some background about this this work for ANS readers:

In this article, we present the application of Postcolonial, Chicana, and Black feminist thought to analyze Latina migrant farmworkers’ mental health needs. Current literature regarding the mental health needs of Latina migrant farmworkers in the upper Midwest is scarce. The contextual factors affecting Latina migrant farmworkers’ mental health needs are informed by a specific socioeconomic, political, and historical context. We chose these theoretical frameworks to help us understand the intersection of the current sociopolitical climate, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and systemic racism on Latina migrant farmworkers’ mental health. The tenets of Postcolonial Feminist theory provide a lens for reflecting on and analyzing the realities of women in the global South or third world women, and Chicana and Black feminist thought enable us to explore the worldviews and life experiences of women of color in the Americas. Applying these feminist epistemologies to our analysis also allowed us to consider the ideologies that have historically informed White hegemonic masculinity, which refers to the enforcement of patriarchal gender hierarchies through constructions of masculinity cast as normative. We believe that research with Latina migrant farmworkers grounded in women’s voices helps us move away from hegemonic representations, informs policy, and leads to culturally appropriate guidelines and interventions.