Editorial Material
Development Studies
Jonathan Pattenden
Summary: This special issue analyzes the potential for progressive politics in the face of right-wing populism and capitalism. The articles highlight the importance of understanding progressive movements across various settings and their social roots among laborers and petty commodity producers. They also discuss the impact of migrant populations in eroding racial and ethnic divisions constructed by capitalism and right-wing populism. Moreover, the articles emphasize the influence of national contexts and capitalist government forms on progressive politics and offer insights for counter-strategies.
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Claudio Mancilla, Luz Maria Ferrada, Sergio Soza-Amigo, Adriano Rovira
Summary: Agricultural activity is crucial for countries, and technology can be utilized to strengthen the sector. However, challenges arise in incorporating workers when integrating new technologies. Therefore, labor commutation could be a potential solution to address labor shortages. Chile was studied as a case to analyze regional differences. The research found that higher education level, full-time employment, formal sector employment, and younger age were factors that increased the likelihood of agricultural workers becoming worker commuters.
Article
Anthropology
Antonio Roman-Alcala
Summary: This paper applies an anarchist lens to agrarian politics, exploring its relevance to contemporary issues such as 'authoritarian populism' and emphasizing the implications for rural people and agrarian processes.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2021)
Article
Development Studies
Ben White, Colum Graham, Laksmi Savitri
Summary: This article reflects on the changing trajectories of agrarian movements in Indonesia. In the two decades after independence, a left-populist alliance gained mass following before being destroyed by the Suharto regime. After Suharto's downfall, agrarian organizations and movements re-emerged, but they continue to remain small and fragmented. The progressive rural movements face dilemmas in terms of their focus, goals, and tactical alliances.
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Development Studies
Kyla Sankey
Summary: This contribution explores the potential and pitfalls of a popular agrarian movement that offers a progressive alternative to the far-right. Using the case of Colombia's national agrarian strike, the paper argues that mobilizing around food sovereignty can create a multiclass, anti-neoliberal agrarian coalition. However, caution is needed when building a counter-hegemonic movement as class differentiation within and between campesino movements can prioritize certain groups over others. While agrarian populism can be a useful political strategy for coalition-building and framing demands, its transformative potential is limited by a closer class analysis.
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Demography
Ramesh Sunam
Summary: Migrant labour plays a crucial role in many Asian economies, yet there is a lack of research on how migration infrastructures shape the multidimensional forms of precarity in the global South. This article examines the precarious experiences of Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia and the role of various infrastructures in shaping these experiences. It reveals multidimensional categories of migrant precarity and highlights the complex interplay between workplace and regulatory infrastructures in the receiving country, worsened by the workings of commercial and socio-economic infrastructures in the sending country.
JOURNAL OF ETHNIC AND MIGRATION STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Nick Dines
Summary: This article explores the entanglement of humanitarian and securitarian logics in the Euro-Mediterranean migration issue, highlighting the involvement of humanitarianism in the management of migrant labor in agriculture. Using the tomato districts in southern Italy as a case study, the article analyzes the legislative and emergency measures implemented to address labor violations and ensure the reproduction of the migrant workforce, showing how these measures regulate the labor force and sustain the industrial agri-food system through the concept of humanitarian exploitation.
ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING D-SOCIETY & SPACE
(2023)
Article
Development Studies
R. C. Sudheesh
Summary: This paper examines a case of rural-to-rural movement of agrarian capital in southern India and explores how capital-labor relations are reshaped to maintain forms of exploitation. Affluent capitalist farmers from Wayanad, Kerala lease large pieces of land in Karnataka and cultivate ginger for speculative purposes due to an agrarian crisis. Indigenous Adivasi laborers from Wayanad have been working on these ginger farms for thirty years. However, farmers have recently started employing laborers from the Scheduled Caste in Karnataka, not only because they are willing to work for lower wages but also due to the resistance of Adivasis against poor working conditions. This story reflects broader dynamics of agrarian-labor relations in the context of capitalist expansion and emphasizes the importance of socio-political factors.
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
A. Liem, C. Wang, C. Dong, A. I. F. Lam, C. A. Latkin, B. J. Hall
Summary: This study investigated the knowledge and awareness of COVID-19 among Indonesian migrant workers in Macao, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The majority of participants obtained information on COVID-19 from online social media, but some were also exposed to fake news. Public health communication strategies and digital literacy content are recommended to minimize knowledge gaps and misinformation.
Article
Demography
Karin Krifors
Summary: New approaches to understanding migration mediation have emerged from literature on migration industries, infrastructures, and brokerage. There is a need to develop a complementing theorisation of migration economies. Emerging scholarship around a logistics of migration that accounts for supply chain organizations and transnational interoperability is suggested for this purpose.
JOURNAL OF ETHNIC AND MIGRATION STUDIES
(2021)
Article
Area Studies
Philip Proudfoot, Brigitte Rohwerder
Summary: This article discusses how anti-migrant and refugee discourses and policies have thrived during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the global public health concerns, particularly regarding vaccines. The authors argue that pre-existing authoritarian, populist, and nativist political tendencies have shown remarkable resilience, exacerbating the rolling back of refugee and migrant rights in response to the pandemic. These tendencies pose a risk to comprehensive global vaccination efforts.
IDS BULLETIN-INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Political Science
Dan Paget
Summary: Authoritarian populists offer a vision of state, but not all populists are genuinely populist; some are elitist plebeians. Elitist plebeianism presents a distinct vision of government as elected guardianship and advocates for extending executive power. Unlike populists, they see power division as acceptable as long as it serves accountability, and they are intolerant of opposition. Studies on populist authoritarianism should reconsider the possibility of misinterpreting elitist plebeian visions as authoritarian populism. The case of President Magufuli of Tanzania is examined as an example, and other potential elitist plebeians are identified worldwide.
Article
Anthropology
Suravee Nayak
Summary: This paper argues that there are multiple, fragmented, and hierarchical classes of labour in the new public sector coal mines of India, based on long term fieldwork in the coalfields of eastern India. It shows that the organisation of these classes is greatly influenced by the negotiating powers for compensatory employments linked to pre-existing land and social relations, which shape the politics of incorporation in mining jobs. Additionally, the paper demonstrates how socio-economic inequalities between dalits, women, and dominant caste and class communities are exacerbated in the process of open-cast coal mining.
JOURNAL OF PEASANT STUDIES
(2022)
Article
Development Studies
Muhammad Yahya Aftab, Noaman G. Ali
Summary: This article discusses whether agrarian populism can pursue progressive objectives with multiple classes and groups in the same movement, and how to handle the relationship between exploiters and the exploited. Through studying the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, it is found that the organization tends to prioritize the interests of the second tier of rural capitalists at the expense of the owner-peasant farmers, leading to fragmentation along class and political lines.
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Pawel Churski, Hanna Kroczak, Marta Luczak, Olena Shelest-Szumilas, Marcin Wozniak
Summary: This research focuses on the adaptation strategies of Ukrainian economic migrants to the changing situation in the local labour market in Poznan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study identified eight types of migrant adaptation strategies based on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of capital, which differ in objectives, resources, and time perspectives. The interviews also assessed the robustness of these strategies in economic shocks and identified the process of capital conversion and exchange.