Detalles del documento

West Indian migrant farm laborers are crucial to the agricultural process in Ontario. Also, they are human beings isolated from homes & families, for varying lengths of time, in a foreign environment. The fundamental issue raised here concerns the conditions of life for these workers. The methods of anthropology, demography, & geography were combined to conduct a pilot study, collecting questionnaire data from 300 workers & 25 farmers. Concurrently, anthropological analysis was carried out on both groups via in-depth interviews. It was postulated that the work situation would replicate some aspects of the old tropical colonial plantation relationship, & indeed it was so for certain aspects. It was further hypothesized that the workers would experience certain degrees of loneliness & isolation in Canada, which was also proven to be true in many cases. Data allow some preliminary examinations of farmer-worker relationships, which ran the gamut from pure detachment to quasi-familial integration. The global aspects of the workers' human condition are presented. 3 Tables, 37 References. Modified AA