Ghettos, camps and dormitories. Migrant workers' living conditions in enclaves of industrial agriculture in Italy

By focusing on two enclaves of intensive agriculture in Italy (the Transformed Littoral Strip in Sicily and the area of Saluzzo in Piedmont), this chapter explores farm workers ’ living conditions in order to understand how these living arrangements have emerged and developed through time. We argue that different types of settlement emerge and develop according to the interplay of several factors. Using the backdrop of the existing literature and on the basis of our research, we identify four main factors which are discussed throughout the chapter: 1) The organisation of production (a seasonal versus a de-seasonalised form of agriculture); 2) the set of migration policies that channel migrants into specific areas while at the same time defining their differentiated legal status; 3) the regulation of labour market and recruitment procedures; 4) migrants’ self-tailored mobility strategies. The interplay between these factors produces a certain type of workforce living arrangements, and in turn these living arrangements shape labour markets, showing how the productive sphere and the sphere of domesticity, constituting a relevant aspect of workforce reproduction, are highly intertwined.