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Living Better but Separated: The Emotional Impacts of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme on Transmigrant Workers

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The Rural-Migration Nexus

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Abstract

Linamar Campos-Flores and Adriana Leona Rosales-Mendoza investigate the exploitative conditions of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme. Throughout the almost half-century of its signature between the Canadian and Mexican governments, most of the previous research has centred on labour, legal, social or health issues, neglecting the emotional component which plays a fundamental role in transmigrant agricultural workers’ mental health and well-being because of the prevalence of stress and chronic illnesses associated with their working conditions. Drawing on interviews and visual ethnographic methods with Mexican transmigrant agricultural workers, the chapter demonstrates that the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Worker Programme represents a site of emotional labour for migrants who are stuck between the ‘here’ (the place they call home) and the ‘there’ (the work site), emphasising the importance of addressing the intersections of gendered identity, work, and emotions.

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Campos-Flores, L., Rosales-Mendoza, A.L. (2023). Living Better but Separated: The Emotional Impacts of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme on Transmigrant Workers. In: Kerrigan, N., de Lima, P. (eds) The Rural-Migration Nexus. Rethinking Rural. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18042-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18042-2_5

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