Camaraderie and its Discontents: Class Consciousness, Ethnicity and Divergent Masculinities among Zimbabwean Migrant Farmworkers in South Africa

Abstract

As a result of Zimbabwe's economic troubles and displacement, the Zimbabwean workforces on South Africa's border farms display a heightening diversity of regional origins, languages, ages, ethnicities and class histories. This article asks what happens to class consciousness under such conditions. It does so by exploring how male fruit pickers on one particular farm interpret the nexus of class, ethnicity and masculinity. It illustrates how migrant masculinities diverge along class lines, polarising the farm's workers. The work process generates a dominant masculinity based on a ‘rough’ banter, both producing and reflecting shared experiences. But as a strong statement of this masculinity, it is also a model in contrast to which those with middle-class sensibilities can understand themselves. Picking work is therefore an arena for the performance of competing masculinities. These performances in turn reveal workers’ interpretations of class ideals and corresponding ethnic difference. The article offers insight into displaced Zimbabweans’ experiences of their own diversity and of agricultural work itself.