Latine Labor and Legality: Examining Unconventional Oil and Gas Labor Regimes and Gendered Dynamics in the U.S. West

Abstract

This research uses in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and key informant insights in Wheatland, WY, to examine unconventional oil and gas (UOG) labor regimes and their associated their household dynamics in Latine immigrant families linked to this industry. Since the discovery of rich shale oil regions across the U.S., the expansion of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) has piqued scholars' interest. This increase of fossil fuel production has been associated with economic growth in oil-producing regions, but has also been implicated in negative infrastructural, environmental, and social impacts. Despite the range of research conducted by social scientists on UOG production in the U.S. West, few have played sustained attention to the recruitment and presence of Latine immigrant workers into the UOG industry. Drawing on feminist theories of social reproduction, this article explores how UOG labor regimes, ones predicated on the extended absences of men from their families, reshape household decision-making and gendered power dynamics within mixed-status Latine immigrant households.