Product Overview
Broadening the Scope of Human Trafficking Research is an edited reader that not only discusses the myriad of types of human trafficking (e.g. sex trafficking, labor trafficking, prison labor, adoption fraud, child soldiers, organ trafficking, servile marriage/child brides, forced begging and pick-pocketing...) but also the diversity of survivors' identities and the relationship to heightened trafficking risk (e.g. race, ethnicity, undocumented status, socioeconomic status, caste, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity...). The book emphasizes the multiple types of human trafficking and exploitation evident worldwide, with a particular emphasis on identity-based vulnerabilities and those otherwise marginalized in the research literature. The public discourse associated with human trafficking has led the general public to believe that human trafficking is synonymous with sex trafficking. Although this form is emphasized politically and publicly, it is not the only form of trafficking. It has been revealed that children are illegally sold through false adoption agencies; women are married and then forced into various forms of labor; children become involved in paramilitary organizations and are coerced into fighting as soldiers. All of these activities fall under the umbrella term of human trafficking, but are not often socially or legally represented as such. Similarly, the role of identity based oppression is marginalized in the research literature as well. Transgender, Native, Black, and immigrant people experience increased risk, as do prisoners, those in conflict zones, runaway youth, and those experiencing economic disenfranchisement. Yet, many of these identities and dynamics are virtually invisible in the human trafficking discourse. This reader attempts to bring the role of identity based oppression and human trafficking in its multifaceted forms into the spotlight.
