Since 1980 thousands of immigrants have fled to Belize from political and economic crises elsewhere in Central America. The country has since witnessed growing confrontation between Afro-Belizeans and Hispanic immigrants. This article examines how national identity is reproduced by the recruitment of labor in the Belizean banana industry, where most Afro-Belizean workers have been replaced by immigrants. Myths of ethnicity rationalize the displacement of Belizeans from farm labor in terms of supposed cultural and innate attributes of the region's ethnic groups. Recruitment of immigrant workers suggests revisions of class segmentation theories of ethnic conflict, notably the need to examine workers' responses to discrimination through everyday forms of resistance.

Immigrant labor Resistance Ethnic conflict Belize Class segmentation Banana industry

[No Keywords available]