Inside the North American tragedy: the exploitation of Mexican and Brazilian migrant children in American tobacco farming

This study aims to reflect on the situation and exploitation of migrant Latino children in the United States of America, especially in the production of North American tobacco. It is the result of postdoctoral research carried out between 2020 and 2021 at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). We conducted online analyses, research, interviews, and field research with data collection on farms in Virginia and North Carolina. Data analysis was performed using content analysis (Bardin, 1977) and Marxist theory on the relationship between the current reality and the Marxist system totality. The results of this study pushed academic boundaries given the current situation of migrant children in the US, which reflects a contemporary form of colonialism and the capitalistic tragedy of working-class children. In line with Meszaros (2009) and Stetsenko (2016), we defend the need for taking a radical and daring approach to engaged research with a view toward denouncing and changing the situation of exploitation of migrant children (and entire families) in the US. If reality is in a state of constant movement and transformation, the direction of change depends on our practical-theoretical engagements toward substantial human emancipation.