Sugarcane Labor Migration in Brazil

Reviews / Votes

'The history of capital is the history of labour exploitation. In this beautifully written monograph, Terry-Ann Jones traces that history in a single country - Brazil - by following the vicissitudes of seasonal, domestic workers who are exposed to the most cruel extremes of capital accumulation. As second-class citizens of their own country, internal migrant sugar cane workers in Brazil today exhibit all the deep scars of their precursors in this historically unforgiving industry: poverty, powerlessness, displacement, marginalization and human desperation.'- Anton L. Allahar , Professor of Sociology, Western University, Canada

"Sugar Cane Labor Migration in Brazil provides a rich ethnohistorical analysis of one crucial story of contemporary labor relations that is always gendered and raced: the neo-slavery conditions that structure sugar cane production in Brazil. She interviewed migrant sugar cane workers and observed their work and living conditions for 10 years, gaining access to dramatic accounts of how they struggled to survive economic hardship, deplorable housing, poor nutrition, and systemic criminalization. This book sheds necessary light on the colonial legacies of racial capitalism and the direct relationship between labor, national belonging, and access to citizenship rights and resources."

- Keisha-Khan Y. Perry , PhD, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, Brown University, USA