Economic Opportunities and Patterns of Work

Employment opportunities, patterns of work, and conditions of work in British Honduras reflect the fruits of colonial exploitation based on a monoeconomy of forestry. Today, a generation after forestry has declined, rural workers attempt to eke out a living based on a pattern established to meet the requirements of forestry. Brought to the country as slaves. African workers adjusted to the problem of feeding themselves as well as meeting the work demands of the forestry contractors. Imported foodstuffs solved part of the problem, but much of what the workers consumed, they grew themselves on small plots on a part-time basis.Following emancipation, the monoeconomy continued and the work pattern persisted. When forestry declined drastically during the world depression of the 1930's, the worker was forced to shift his emphasis to agriculture. He now attempts to produce a harvest in excess of household needs in order to obtain cash. But failing to meet income demands, he seeks any available wage-work during slack farming periods. This part-time agricultural pattern hinders the development of an efficient small-scale farming system. Moreover, the worker becomes prey to commercial endeavors which offer inadequate but ready cash income

Agriculture · Business · Cash · Cash crop · Colonialism · Economic growth · Economics · Emancipation · Geography · Labour economics · Political science · Scale (ratio) · Wage · Work (physics) · Engineering · Finance · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact

• Ritual and Resource Flow

  Open Access•Carol L Jenkins, Carol Jenkins•American Ethnologist•1983

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