Work, Culture, and Identity: Migrant Laborers in Mozambique and South Africa, c. 1860-1910 (Social History of Africa Series)

Thousands of Mozambican workers tramped to the sugar plantations, diamond fields, and gold mines of South Africa. They arrived with the cultures and traditions they had learned at home, and it was through their encounter with other blacks, as well as with white employers, that a new and dynamic culture emerged. Work, Culture, and Identity offers a compelling narrative of the day-to-day life of these migrants. Harries portrays workers as not mere units of suffering, but human beings attempting to deal with exploitative situations in culturally creative ways.