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Graduation Term
Summer 2025
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of Sociology and Anthropology: Archaeology
Committee Chair
Gabriel Torrealba
Committee Member
Livia K. Stone
Committee Member
Maura Toro-Morn
Abstract
Paint and coatings are mostly considered as they relate to artistic expression, however, little has been said about how we primarily encounter these materials, in their functional form. Far less reflection has been given to the Latine workforce responsible for these materials’ ubiquity. Drawing primarily from autoethnographic insights and semi-formal interviews with a network of workers in Chicagoland’s commercial-industrial paint and coatings industry, this thesis addresses the questions1)How do paint and coatings shape our daily lives and its industry?; 2) How do Latine kinship structures shape labor in the paint and coatings industry?; and 3) How do workers in Chicagoland’s paint and coatings ethnic labor niche navigate between labor subjectivity and ethnic solidarity? By documenting how newcomers and undocumented workers are present commercial spheres via subcontracting, the upward mobility achieved through Latine kinship networks, and considering how technological advancements in this sphere necessitate specialization, I argue that the decentering of labor itself in studies about work has resulted in disjointed representations of how workers are connected to one another and propose “Labor niche entrapment” to consider upward mobility as a facet of entrapment. Ultimately, this thesis provides a historical account of paint and coatings, highlights the role of these materials in our daily lives, makes visible this specialized Latine labor force, and underscore how their kinship networks and industry demands are inextricably intertwined, and point out how attempts for solidarity, whether ethnic or occupational, reinforces labor niche entrapment and structures of power.
Access Type
Thesis-ISU Access Only
Recommended Citation
Hernandez, Vanessa A., "Painting Pipelines: Kinship, Solidarity, and Ethnic Mobility Entrapment in Chicagoland's Paint and Coatings Industry" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 2143.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/2143
DOI
https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD.1763755359.12935