Ethnographic Explorations of an Indian Community in the Southernmost Province of Italy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36941/mjss-2025-0001Keywords:
International Migration, Indian Sikh Communities, Italian Agriculture Sector, Foreign Workforce, Ethnicization Processes, MarginalisationAbstract
Modern conventional agriculture is based on the overexploitation of natural resources, intensive monocultures, massive use of chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms, leading to the de-seasonalization of production. This system of exploitation of natural resources, in Italy is accompanied by the exploitation of labour relying on foreign workers coming from various regions around the world. This article describes the labor integration in this sector of an Indian Sikh community located in the southernmost province of Italy, Ragusa. The objective is to illustrate the fragile working conditions and ethnicization processes in place. Predominantly employed in agriculture and particularly in the livestock sector, the Indian community is composed by individuals from the Punjab state, primarily of Sikh faith. The article shows the recruitment process of workers in the country of origin, the consequences of an ethnicization of the sector and the dynamics of social and economic marginalisation of the Indian population in the province. This research work is part of a doctoral programme and presents the first results of ethnographic exploration and a literature review.
Received: 25 November 2024 / Accepted: 10 January 2025 / Published: 21 January 2025
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.