It’s finally Friday! This week has been a real doozy. A Group project, copious amounts of reading, an essay outline, a reflection, and concluding with this blog entry. I’m sure everyone, Profs included, share my excitement at the idea of relaxing and taking a breather tonight. Personally, I’ve been contemplating what Netflix series to start, or perhaps what early 90’s classic to re-watching.
Regardless of what I end up watching, I will be accompanied by one of my favorite South American import. No, not my Argentine boyfriend Peter, but a delightful glass of red wine.
Thanks to the research I’ve done for my geography essay, I can’t just drink a glass of wine like I used to.
As I’ve been researching grapes and commodity chain analysis of harvesting in Chile, the realization that each bottle of wine has its own story; its own narrative, has intrigued my inner global citizen. By ‘story’ I don’t mean that blurb on the back of the bottle that romanticizes the idea of vineyards, but rather the very real process between picking the grape and pouring wine into my glass.
In José Bengoa’s article Rural Chile Transformed: Lights and Shadows, he explains that although some workers, both men and women, have year round contracts (and therefore considered privileged), the majority of workers are seasonal (484). Because the geographical layout of the country, Chileans experience different seasons at the same time. While it may be a hot summer in the north, it is a cool winter in the south. Therefore, “there is also regional movement of seasonal labour from north to south, following different climatic conditions and timings in harvest” (485).
As I go out in search for a bottle of wine this evening, I will keep in mind what I have learned. I will also remember that “this mass of seasonal workers has to sit home when labour demands it” (485) and therefore, do my part as a global citizen and indulge in two bottles.
Bengoa, José. “Rural Chile Transformed: Lights and Shadows.” Journal of Agrarian Change 13.4 (2013):
484-85. Http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/. John Wiley & Sons Lt. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/10.1111/joac.12015/pdf>.