The persistence of child labour in tobacco plantations of United States of America and Brazil: Prof Soraya Conde, Fedral University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Event Date: 17 April 2024

Speaker: Professor Soraya Conde, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Time: 2pm-3pm

Location: Teaching and Learning, Room 6.55 (Mary Dunn Building)

We are discussing how the persistence of child labor, especially in Brazil and the United States of America, constitutes a current facet of neo-colonialism. Cultivated as an educational and dignifying activity, exploited child labor persists and is naturalized. Initially, the presentation discusses how the culture of work is historically founded and then argues against the idealist and postmodern explanations that naturalize it. Data from the empirical research on child labor in tobacco farming in Brazil and the USA reveal the persistence of the problem among Latino children and families. We conclude with the need to found a new culture for contemporary society, based on other social and economic relations, which allows the working class to free itself from what dominates and exploits it.

Keywords: child labor, tobacco farming, culture, education, neo-colonialism

Published: 27 March 2024