ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how processes and events connect in a regional historical context. Even though Autlan is very different from Israel or California, it has social dynamics comparable with other localities. Therefore one must analyse the connections between the tomato fields, the marketing and financial spheres, and regional social institutions. Historians, politicians, entrepreneurs and ordinary people register the advent of the tomato companies as an important event in the region. In tomato work long-distance control would describe the intersection of practices and coordination of tasks in order to alcanzar el corte and reach harvest targets. Establishing discipline complies less with general normative planning; instead disciplinary procedures intertwine complexly in tomato work. This implies that one cannot separate the standard calculations for production from tomato workers’ living conditions and qualifications.
