Migrant workers, 'modern slavery' and the politics of representation in Italian tomato production

Bibliographic Data

ID2159809
AuthorsNeil Howard (0000-0003-4174-7349, Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down BA2 7AY, United Kingdom), Roberto Forin (Mixed Migration Centre, Geneva, Switzerland.)
Year2019
Volume48
Issue4
Pages579-601
Publication date2019-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2019.1672426
OpenAlexW2996069083
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited24

This paper examines representational politics in relation to the production and marketization of Italy's 'red Gold', the tomato. It centres around three competing images. The first, hegemonic image is of a bucolic countryside, pushed by agro-capital and retail. A stereotypically 'fetishizing' image, it hides both labour and its exploitation. The second is its counter-hegemonic opposite, of a countryside seething with indignity, populated by exploited workers, and neglected by the state. Advanced by civil society, this image parallels many within mainstream 'modern abolitionism' and seeks to shame big business into pursuing a more ethical capitalism. In our view, it re-inscribes the (neo)liberal paradigm that is foundational to the exploitation it wishes to overcome. It also alienates many of the people it purports to depict. The third image is an ethnographic alternative to the first two and is drawn from our fieldwork with the farmers, migrant workers and labour-brokers responsible for tomato production in Foggia, Southern Italy. Complex and contradictory, it depicts living and working conditions that are bad, but better than the alternative, and workers who are exploited, but nevertheless understand themselves as consenting to their exploitation

Capital (architecture · Capitalism · Economics · Hegemony · Mainstream · Parallels · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Sex work and related issues · History · Law

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