In Harvesting Labour, Edward Dunsworth shows how labor power, organization, demographics, and political influence changed from the 1920s to 2020 in southwestern Ontario's Tobacco Belt. By seamlessly linking these subjects in an engaging and smoothly written piece, this work is suitable for both beginners and seasoned researchers and is a must-read for agricultural and labor scholars.
Dunsworth's argument relies heavily on interviews with many former tobacco workers. He spoke on record with at least thirty-three participants from Ontario, Quebec, Barbados, and Jamaica. Using these oral histories, Dunsworth's evidence extends beyond southwestern Ontario into other parts of Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States. Additionally, he uses government reports to gather limited evidence from guest workers from parts of Europe. Thus, Dunsworth extends his study globally, making his history about how Canadian and global change affected Canadian agricultural labor.
By studying a global workforce, Dunsworth examines race and ethnicity's...