Hartmann creating Nogales produce folklore record
Hartmann creating Nogales produce folklore record
Tucson, AZ — For more than 100 years the fresh produce industry has been an integral story of the colorful link between Mexico and Nogales.
Folklorist Nic Hartmann is working with Southwest Folklife Alliance, which is affiliated with the University of Arizona, here in Tucson, as well as with the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, based in Nogales, to document some of the industry’s heritage.
Hartmann’s academic specialty is occupational folklore. In January he finished his Ph.D. defense at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. That thesis was a study of Newfoundland’s oil and gas workers.
His work on occupations in Arizona’s produce industry began last summer. The FPAA connected him with the Nogales industry. His work will be part of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, as well as the FPAA archives.
Hartmann said that in Nogales he was recorded 23 hours of interviews with industry players ranging in age from mid-20s to the 90s. This oral history for the Library of Congress will be accompanied by a written record created by the transcription work of Hartmann and his music grad-student wife, Jennifer Hartmann.
Among the industry players interviewed are Chris Ciruli of Ciruli Bros., James Martin of Wilson Produce and Brian and Scott Vandervoet of Vandervoet & Associates Inc.
Hartmann has also interviewed a worker spectrum in the Nogales industry, including warehousemen and others, to present a wide array of the trade.
