'Ghetto tomatoes' and 'taxi drivers': The exploitation and control of Sub-Saharan African migrant tomato pickers in Puglia, Southern Italy

This study focuses on the exploitation and control of Sub-Saharan migrants who pick tomatoes in the Capitanata area in the South Italian region of Puglia. Large-scale organised distribution puts pressure on the growers to seek cheap agricultural labour, which is currently largely provided by migrants. The historical phenomenon of the caporalato labour contracting system is still widely practised and impacts in particular the Sub-Saharan migrants. Through the application of the concept of differential inclusion, the study focuses on the subordinate layering processes to which the Sub-Saharan migrants are subjected: racialisation, 'refugeeisation', criminalisation, deportability and invisibility. The ethnographic case study of the 'taxi-driver' sheds light on the difficulty in identifying caporali who have traditionally been blamed for a system that exploits labourers while instead protecting the owners. Recent anti-caporalato laws have been ineffective in contributing to the creation of a more just labour system and have only served to increase the pressure on the Sub-Saharan migrants for whom work is synonymous with survival.

Automated summary

This study examines the exploitation and control of Sub-Saharan migrants who work as tomato pickers in the Capitanata area in Puglia, South Italy. It highlights the impact of the caporalato labour contracting system on these migrants, revealing the injustices and pressures they face.