{"title":"Forms of Unfree Labour in Brazil: Dealing with Racism and Racialisation in Amazonian Agriculture","authors":"Julia Harnoncourt","doi":"10.12681/historein.18612","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Unlike many other countries, the Brazilian state has created institutions and actions against unfree labour. In addition, unfree labour is a topic that appears in popular media as well as in scientific research. Poverty is generally attributed as the only factor making people vulnerable to the promises of labour recruiters, while the intersection between class and race is denied. In this article, which takes the Brazilian example, racism is seen as a structural element of unfree labour. Two factors play a big role in this intersection: first, structural racism and, second, racism as a theory of legitimation. As regards the first, imagined races influence one’s chances of having a good education as well as lead to segregation in the job and housing markets, etc. Black people in Brazil are more likely to be poor and have lower chances of upward mobility. As these structures are also mirrored in unfree labour formation, most of unfree labourers in Brazil are black, even though skin colour does not constitute a factor for labour recruiters or estate owners in choosing labourers. As regards the second, when poor people are racialised, they are ascribed specific characteristics. These mostly legitimise their subordinated position as well as their poverty. In Brazil, it could be argued that the category of the peão de trecho (migrant labourer) has been racialised. This group of subaltern labourers are seen as totally irrational people who do not possess the ability to plan their future, but who could be, with the correct guidance, potentially good labourers. Therefore, the exploitation of the peões de trecho is attributed to their characteristic traits and not to labour relations. Additionally, structural factors – as, for example, the lack of access to basic resources – are negated, making poverty a problem of merit and not of chances. Using the example of unfree labour in Brazilian agriculture, this article presents racism and racialisation as factors structuring the labour market as a whole.","PeriodicalId":38128,"journal":{"name":"Historein","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Historein","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12681/historein.18612","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Unlike many other countries, the Brazilian state has created institutions and actions against unfree labour. In addition, unfree labour is a topic that appears in popular media as well as in scientific research. Poverty is generally attributed as the only factor making people vulnerable to the promises of labour recruiters, while the intersection between class and race is denied. In this article, which takes the Brazilian example, racism is seen as a structural element of unfree labour. Two factors play a big role in this intersection: first, structural racism and, second, racism as a theory of legitimation. As regards the first, imagined races influence one’s chances of having a good education as well as lead to segregation in the job and housing markets, etc. Black people in Brazil are more likely to be poor and have lower chances of upward mobility. As these structures are also mirrored in unfree labour formation, most of unfree labourers in Brazil are black, even though skin colour does not constitute a factor for labour recruiters or estate owners in choosing labourers. As regards the second, when poor people are racialised, they are ascribed specific characteristics. These mostly legitimise their subordinated position as well as their poverty. In Brazil, it could be argued that the category of the peão de trecho (migrant labourer) has been racialised. This group of subaltern labourers are seen as totally irrational people who do not possess the ability to plan their future, but who could be, with the correct guidance, potentially good labourers. Therefore, the exploitation of the peões de trecho is attributed to their characteristic traits and not to labour relations. Additionally, structural factors – as, for example, the lack of access to basic resources – are negated, making poverty a problem of merit and not of chances. Using the example of unfree labour in Brazilian agriculture, this article presents racism and racialisation as factors structuring the labour market as a whole.
与许多其他国家不同,巴西政府建立了针对不自由劳动力的制度和行动。此外,非自由劳动是一个出现在大众媒体和科学研究中的话题。贫困通常被认为是使人们容易受到劳动力招聘者承诺影响的唯一因素,而阶级和种族之间的交集则被否认。在这篇以巴西为例的文章中,种族主义被视为不自由劳动的一个结构性因素。有两个因素在这种交集中发挥了重要作用:首先是结构性种族主义,其次是作为一种合法化理论的种族主义。关于第一种,想象中的种族会影响一个人接受良好教育的机会,也会导致就业和住房市场等方面的隔离。巴西的黑人更有可能变穷,向上流动的机会也更低。由于这些结构也反映在不自由的劳动力形成中,巴西大多数不自由的劳动力都是黑人,尽管肤色不是劳动力招聘者或地产所有者选择劳动力的一个因素。至于第二点,当穷人被种族化时,他们被赋予了特定的特征。这些大多使他们的从属地位和贫穷合法化。在巴西,可以说pe o de trecho(移徙工人)这一类别已经被种族化了。这群次等劳动者被视为完全不理性的人,他们没有能力规划自己的未来,但在正确的指导下,他们可能成为潜在的好劳动者。因此,对peões de trecho的剥削归因于他们的特点,而不是劳动关系。此外,结构性因素- -例如缺乏获得基本资源的机会- -被否定,使贫穷成为一个价值问题,而不是机会问题。以巴西农业中的不自由劳动力为例,本文将种族主义和种族化作为构成整个劳动力市场的因素。