We work in the light but get paid in the dark”: Structural violence and Haitian labor in Dominican sugarcane production

Abstract

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This study examines the exploitation of Haitian migrant workers in the Dominican Republic’s sugarcane industry, focusing on structural violence, racial discrimination, and capitalist labor extraction. Based on fieldwork in El Seibo and San Pedro de Macorís, it reveals how legal precarity, forced dependency, and spatial segregation maintain the subjugation of Haitian laborers. The Dominican state and sugar companies produce and reproduce a reserve army of labor through a mix of legal exclusion, labor subjugation, and spatial confinement. The research connects these practices to historical colonial regimes, highlighting how Haitian workers’ exploitation fuels global sugar value chains and capitalist accumulation.