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Abstract
Agricultural laborers in the United States (U.S.) face toxicity in their psychosocial and physical environment. The Central Valley of California is an exceptionally toxic area for these workers and their families due to exposure to pesticides, hazardous materials, heavy smog, and inaccessible drinking water. For Latinx women, this toxicity is even more pronounced. Latinx women face work instability and exploitation based on their immigration status, sex and gender discrimination, and racism in their communities and workspaces. Environmental Hazards such as California wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionally affect Latinx communities, exacerbates the toxicity faced by farmworking women. This study investigated the ways Latinx farmworking women are mitigating multiple barriers in their everyday lives. The researcher interviewed nine women between the ages of 18-65 to understand their lived experiences in the Central Valley of California. These qualitative testimonio interviews lasted two to three hours and were conducted via zoom. Through these testimonios, the researcher illuminated stories of resiliency and the ways that farmworking Latinx women are resisting in spite of multiple environmental and systematic barriers. This dissertation seeks to highlight the labor of love farmworking women engage in towards feeding the U.S. while existing and resisting.