What Slaveholders Think by Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick

Author:Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOC054000, Social Science/Slavery, SOC042000, Social Science/Developing & Emerging Countries
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2016-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

ADAPTATION: LAND ATTACHMENT

Land attachment is similar to sharecropping in that it draws on many of the same raw resources—labor and land—yet it is a solid step closer to extractive dependency in that it makes use of the laborer’s own land but leaves the worker reliant on the landlord for raw materials. In these cases, the bonded laborer’s former employer may agree to advance all of the material necessary to work their land in exchange for a portion of the harvest. Former bonded laborers pay a premium to till land they already own. While the former perpetrator was obligated to provide a measure of grain to the laborer, the laborer is now obligated to repay a significant percentage of the total harvest.

Social movement groups admit that postemancipation scenarios are complicated and that these situations are not necessarily forced on laborers. Indeed, a staff member at a partner organization makes it clear that “we have discussed this with the workers who are giving these lands to the landlord, and we said not to do it. But they are not ready to do this. They say, What will I do being free? I cannot cultivate anything over here. So at least I will go and ask his help, something will come, a small amount.”44 The land-attachment system perpetuates dependency and reinforces inequality by ensuring that the landlord continues to be the lender of last resort and that the laborer is only able to access resources through credit obtained by the landlord against future crops. While land attachment and sharecropping maintain a semblance of the old system, former perpetrators may also shift into new sectors altogether, including politics, finance, and industries such as quarry and stonebreaking.

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