Event Date
Unpacking Immigration explores the lives of immigrant meatpackers whose unseen and undervalued work bridges the crucial missing steps in “the farm to table” concept in food production. This short film, written and directed by Harleen Kaur Bal, shares the story of a longtime Punjabi Sikh meatpacker in California’s Central Valley. The film traces his migration journey, the human toll of meatpacking work, and the fraught notions of home and belonging for working-class immigrants and their families in the “land of opportunity.” Youth activism in the Jakara Movement will also be highlighted. The filmmaker will lead a Q & A.
Harleen Kaur Bal is a PhD student of sociocultural anthropology at the University of California, Davis where she is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersection of work and wellbeing in relation to the South Asian diaspora, particularly intergenerational Punjabis. She recently directed a short film, Unpacking Immigration, that explores Punjabi migration and meatpacking labor in California’s Central Valley. Harleen also engages with questions centered on food production, transnational wellness practices, and everyday life within contemporary capitalism in the U.S. Public scholarship and creative multimedia approaches inform Harleen’s scholarly work.
Free and open to the public.
This event is part of Punjabi Week (May 15th - 19th).