Paper Short Abstract:

After Romania's EU accession, agricultural modernization couldn't eliminate the historically rooted institution of servitude. The presentation explores the "everyday experience" of servitude, examining the perspectives of those involved and the economic and social causes sustaining the system.

Paper Abstract:

In Romania, after its accession to the European Union, the modernization of agricultural production has not been able to eliminate the historically rooted institution of servitude. Servitude involves a rural farmer, engaged in agricultural production, establishing a long-term working relationship with agricultural laborers or their families, typically young men from poor peasant households in peripheral, economically disadvantaged settlements. While a significant portion of the Romanian population engages in labor migration to escape poverty or seek a better life, servants represent a specific employment group without the minimal resources needed for migration. These include family support, social connections, savings, or the capacity to navigate life beyond rural settings. Moreover, they often lack even the faintest hope of undertaking migration. Although servants may move from one region to another within the country, this mobility generally only means relocating from one periphery to another. They embody the "immobility" of life trajectories in a country where international labor migration has become a tool for the economic and social empowerment of entire communities.

The presentation seeks to explore the "everyday experience" of servitude, examining the positions and perspectives of those involved while addressing the economic and social causes underlying the system's operation. What obligations does participation in the institution of servitude impose on the employing farmer and their family? Why is the ethnicity of servants significant to employers?

The presentation is grounded in anthropological fieldwork conducted in various regions of Romania.