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Labor domination in Indonesian plantations: how control of workers' private lives creates subordination

Barral S.. 2012. In : PLAAS Workshop on Labor and Large Scale Agriculture in post-independent Africa and South-East Asia, 20-21st September 2012, Cape Town, South Africa. s.l. : s.n., 16 p.. Workshop on Labour in Large Scale Agriculture in Africa and Southeast Asia, 2012-09-19/2012-09-22, Le Cap (Afrique du Sud).

In large estates, permanent labor control includes two dimensions: control of work itself and control of workers' private life, including that of their families. Historically, plantation companies have always provided accommodation, which is central in the expression of corporate domination within the domestic sphere. This communication presents a monograph of the forms of control regarding the private lives of workers and their families in Indonesian palm tree plantations. It aims to characterize the specific aspects of these technologies of power that explain workers' subordination to authority. The results are based on participant observer sessions in workers' dwellings at six Indonesian plantations over the duration of one year. Supervision of private life covers several dimensions. Rules and regulations set up by the leadership strictly define what is allowed, tolerated or forbidden. These sets of rules and regulations could be seen as oppressive, and therefore criticized. On the contrary, the way in which the prescriptions are stated, gently and with a moralistic tone, leads to their acceptance and legitimization. A general process of infantilization of workers and their families explains the absence of criticism among them. This is a strong drive of the current expansion of plantation capitalism in Indonesia.

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