“It’s difficult to grow here”

Precarity and isolation processes amongst agricultural migrants in Denmark

Abstract

This article explores how precarity and processes of isolation impact the lives and work of migrants in Danish agriculture. Based on Anna Tsing’s analyses of precarity and assemblages, the article shows how migrants’ positions in the global political economy create isolation processes that make it difficult for them to become part of networks and societal structures that would typically support their lives and work. However, the article also demonstrates that migrants develop pragmatic strategies to cope with isolations processes through, for instance, encounters with other migrants and technological opportunities. At the same time, intersections between precarity and isolation processes lead to migrants becoming dependent on others to get by, and the migrants may struggle to see how they can grow in life. The article views isolation processes as relational and multidimensional processes that change over time and place. Isolation is therefore not merely a static phenomenon that deprives migrants of opportunities. Through human creativity, migrants can also create their own opportunities for growth in life.