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For more than fifty years, Jamaican farm workers have been seasonally employed in Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). In Canada, these workers live and work in conditions that make them vulnerable to various health issues, including poor mental health. This ethnographic study investigated Jamaican SAWP workers' mental health experiences in Southern Ontario. Several common factors that engender psychological distress among Jamaican workers, ranging from mild to extreme suffering, were uncovered and organised into five themes: (1) family, (2) work environments and SAWP relations, (3) living conditions and isolation, (4) racism and social exclusion, and (5) illness and injury. I found that Jamaican workers predominantly use the term 'stress' to articulate distress, and they associate experiences of suffering with historic plantation slavery. Analysis of workers' stress discourses revealed their experiences of psychological distress are structured by the conditions of the SAWP and their social marginalisation in Ontario. This article presents and discusses these findings in the context of SAWP power dynamics and concludes with policy recommendations aimed at improving the mental health of all SAWP workers. In foregrounding the experiences of Jamaican workers, this study addresses the dearth of research on the health and wellbeing of Caribbean SAWP workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses two books, "Bought & Sold: Scotland, Jamaica and Slavery" by Kate Phillips and "The Glasgow Sugar Aristocracy: Scotland and Caribbean Slavery, 1775–1838" by Stephen Mullen, which explore Scotland's involvement in slavery and the slave trade. The author criticizes Phillips' book for its lack of original manuscript sources and superficial approach, pointing out errors and unsupported claims. Mullen's book is praised for its scholarly apparatus but criticized for not citing previous works, particularly a 1971 doctoral thesis by Tom Devine. The article emphasizes the importance of careful and rigorous research in contributing to the understanding of slavery and its legacies. [Extracted from the article]

"Unsilencing Slavery: Telling Truths About Rose Hall Plantation, Jamaica" by Celia E. Naylor is a critical examination of the public narrative surrounding Rose Hall Plantation in Jamaica. The book focuses on the lives of enslaved people at Rose Hall who have been largely silenced in the presentation tour at the heritage site. Naylor uses archival records and storytelling techniques to shed light on the experiences of enslaved women and children at Rose Hall, challenging the power dynamics that operate through the silencing of alternative narratives. The book offers insights that are relevant to other historic plantation museums and will appeal to Caribbean historians, anthropologists, gender studies specialists, and literary critics. [Extracted from the article]