In Response to Paul Apostolidis's Critique

In Response to Paul Apostolidis's Critique Kathleen Arnold (bio) While I stand by my review, I want to emphasize that Paul Apostolidis's Breaks in the Chains is truly worth reading and yet there are theoretical differences between this author and myself that are worth discussing. Apostolidis accomplishes a great deal in this book: he strikes a nice balance between theory and the narrative accounts; he has constructed a complex and thought-provoking theory of agency (and resistance); and he teaches his readers a great deal about the power dynamics of immigrant work in the meat-packing industry. I welcome the opportunity to clarify three lines of criticism I developed in my review and want to emphasize that these are matters of theoretical differences but not—to put it crudely—claims that Apostolidis is biased or did not do a thorough job. These three questions were regarding gender, race and an "us-them" binary that is often presupposed in the analyses of bio-power. With regard to gender, Apostolidis challenges my usage of the term stereotype arguing that his gender analysis was careful, well-thought out and backed up by some of the most important scholars on immigration. My usage of the term stereotype was not intended to indicate a lack of scholarly seriousness but rather a perhaps inadvertent slippage into gender binaries, often reading "gendered" meaning in statements that may not be obviously gendered. There are instances in which gender differences are clear cut: in his discussion of the different experiences of women who often brought children with them while trying to cross the border, and those of men, who often crossed alone (see xxxix, 45 - 46, 50 - 51, for example). As Apostolidis notes, "women's decision to leave Mexico also seemed more contingent than men's not only on distinctive family or maternal obligations but also on specific kinds of mistreatment from family members ..." (51 -52). However, there are other important instances in the text which do not seem directly pertinent to gender and to which Apostolidis does not merely differentiate between men and women but also ascribes specific characteristics that map onto traditional gender splits, broadly speaking, and conventional views of Mexican women and men, more narrowly. He warns readers to be skeptical of such an interpretation, for several reasons, but then subscribes to these binaries himself. After discussing the different experiences in men's narratives and women's, Apostolidis states on page 76: "Readers familiar with Mexican cultures or cultural studies may also sense some manifestation here of the feminine side of what is often known as the macho/María identity dualism. The phrase expresses a cultural tendency for gender identity to take shape according to a dichotomy that opposes a feminine norm of patient, willing, and self-sacrificial suffering for the sake of others (as modeled by the mother of Christ) to a fearlessly self-reliant and physically robust masculinity that is essentially unencumbered by any intimate ties." He encourages readers to be skeptical of this dualism for various reasons but nevertheless, the dualism is still presupposed in the accounts that follow. For example, in the next few pages Apostolidis argues that both men and women felt disoriented while crossing the border—but why is gender the rubric that either connects men's and women's experiences or that establishes their differences in this sort of instance? Similarly, Apostolidis argues that their experiences of crossing also tend to converge but again, it is unclear why gender needs to be mentioned at all in this specific discussion. When he recounts the story of Ruiz, who helps another man shoved in a car trunk with him, Ruiz's usage of the term "courage" is interpreted by Apostolidis as "prodding this man's sense of manly bravery, ambition, and ability to tolerate pain" (81). On the following page (82), he discusses a man who is proud that he didn't return to his mother, which Apostolidis infers as demonstrating that this man's crossing was a "masculine rite of passage." On pages 92 - 93, he relates the story of a man who was temporarily blinded by chemicals while he was working. This man ended up having

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