A multidimensional approach to labor intermediaries in agricultural areas

Abstract

This paper argues that analysis of labor intermediaries in rural areas requires explore not only their economic functions in the mobilization and control of the workforce, but also its social and cultural functions in their interaction with employers and farm laborers. These reflections arise from the analysis of a particular kind of labor intermediaries, the captains, who are responsible for recruiting temporary workers and organize crews to harvest vegetables in the Valley of Cuautla, in the state of Morelos in Mexico. The intervention of the captains are crucial in controlling the seasonal labor market composed of indigenous Nahua, Mixtec and Tlapanecas, so have become essential for producers. In this context, the social efficiency of financial intermediary functions of the captains depend on his performance as cultural intermediaies, whose place and function is located in the border area of the axes mestizo/indigenous and local/foreign. From this case of study, it is proposed to consider other labour intermediaries based on a multidimensional approach, since it opens new perspectives for analyzing the complex links between communities supplying labor and industry of capitalist commercial agriculture, particularly since these areas are spaces for migrant labor opportunities and privileged spaces for inter-ethnic relations.