Introducing a special issue of Agriculture and Human Values on migrants, farmers and farmworkers, the authors argue that the interaction between structural, institutional and political dynamics shapes the character and trajectory of social relations among migrants, farmers and farmworkers.
In this introductory article, Jun Borras, Jennifer C. Franco, Tsegaye Moreda, Martha Jane Robbins, Yunan Xu, Chunyu Wang and Jingzhong Ye argue that these dynamics influence or could influence the character and trajectory of broader struggles within and against capitalism, and the building of systemic alternatives.
They argue that the current phase of global capitalism has resulted in the fragmentation of the working class and the peasantry. This has resulted in a complex chain of hollowed-out rural villages interspersed with layers of different categories of migrant labour that are telecoupled in rural–rural/rural–urban (cross-border) migration corridors.
In this introduction, they tease out theoretical, methodological and political implications highlighted by the 14 papers in the collection, individually and collectively, and identify some future research and public action agendas.
- Related links
- Commodity & land rushes and regimes research project