Anthropological Perspectives on the Trafficking of Women for Sexual Exploitation

Abstract The sexual exchange of girls and women embodies deep cultural practices and is historically embedded in many family and kinship systems. Contemporary trafficking operations transform traditional bride wealth and marriage exchanges (prestations) by treating women's sexuality and bodies as commodities to be bought and sold (and exchanged again) in various Western capitals and Internet spaces. Such operations are also global with respect to scale, range, speed, diversity, and flexibility. Propelling many trafficking exchanges are political economic processes, which increase the trafficking of women in times of stress, such as famine, unemployment, economic transition, and so forth. However, the disparity between the global market operations, which organize trafficking, and the late nineteenth century social/public welfare system of counter‐trafficking suggests why the latter do not effectively address women's risks and may even expose them to increased levels of violence and stress. Drawing on historical accounts, anthropological theory, and ethnographic work in Viet Nam and Bosnia and Herzegovina, this essay examines how specific cultural practices embedded in family and kinship relations encourage and rationalize sexual trafficking of girls and young women in times of stress and dislocation. The essay also analyses how technologies of power inform both trafficking and counter‐trafficking operations in terms of controlling women's bodies, sexuality, health, labour, and migration. By analysing sexual trafficking as a cultural phenomenon in its own right, such an analysis seeks to inform and address the specific situations of girls and young women, who suffer greatly from the current migration regimes.     

Middle Passages and Forced Migrations: Liberated Africans in Nineteenth-Century US Camps and Ships

Between 1858 and 1860, Africans liberated by the US Navy from four slave ships near the Cuban coast were detained in Federal custody before being transported for resettlement in Liberia. This article draws on the concept of ‘middle passage’ and ‘forced migration’ to explore the conditions under which the US government seized, detained, and transported Africans rescued from illegal trafficking. Looking at slave trade suppression through the lens of forced migration rather than legal process not only illuminates the traumatic aftermath of the original Middle Passage but also connects the voyages of liberated African shipmates to a broader history of coerced global movement.     

The need to import skilled personnel: factors favouring and hindering its international mobility

Skilled migration has become a major element of contemporary flows. It has developed in scale and variety since the 1930s and now takes many forms, including “brain drain”, professional transients, skilled permanent migrants and business transfers. Nevertheless, the data are poor, inconsistent and usually not differentiated by sex. The importance of policies, both national and regional, to control the movement of skilled migrants has escalated. Receiving countries have come increasingly to see the benefits from admitting skilled workers and have adjusted their permanent and/or temporary migration laws/policies to facilitate entry, usually on the proviso that it does not disadvantage their own workers by taking away their jobs. Another set of policy frameworks within which skilled migration is occurring is regional blocs. The experience of the European Union (EU) in promoting the flow of skilled labour, movement in this direction in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Mercosul, the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Agreement between Australia and New Zealand and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum are analysed. The article poses two sets of issues facing sending and receiving countries. For sending countries they are: whether to free up or tighten migration; whether to support temporary skilled flows; whether to introduce protective or preventive measures to stem skilled emigration; how to encourage the return of skilled nationals; and whether/how to pursue compensation from post-industrialized countries. For receiving countries they are: whether to encourage temporary or permanent skilled immigration; the level of entry to permit/promote; how to select/process skilled immigrants; whether/how to protect the jobs of locals; and how they ensure the successful labour market integration of skilled immigrants. The article argues that the neo-classical view that skilled migration leads to overall improvement in global development does not apply. “Brain waste” or “wasted skills” occur frequently, to the detriment of both individuals and nations. Improved data and constructive dialogue on skilled migration are needed. Within both regional and international contexts, countries have obligations and responsibilities towards each other which need to be taken seriously.     

Salvadorian Migration to the United States in the 1980s. What can we learn about it and from it?1

This study investigates "why and how Salvadorian migrants came to the United States, and the implications of their migration....First, it presents evidence that the dichotomy used to distinguish economic and political migrations may not be adequate for examining current migration trends....Second, it illustrates the importance of social networks in international migrations from politically conflictive regions....Third, it points out that assumptions regarding the viability of social networks as sources of support among immigrants may also need revision." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Migration pressure

"The basic message of this paper is that migration pressure is caused by an excess supply of migration-willing people relative to migration demand in immigration countries....I will also analyse the willingness of destination countries to accept immigrants.... This article concentrates more on political (in-)stability as probably the most important determinant of migration pressure....I also focus on the enormous migration-retarding effect of stable and well defined political institutions." Data concerning migration from Turkey to Europe, and especially to Germany, are used to illustrate. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

The Determinants of Human Trafficking: A US Case Study

Human trafficking is a global problem. In this paper, I seek to find the determinants of international human trafficking by using the US as a case study. Previous studies have drawn primarily from the migration literature, proposing hypotheses that focus on economic factors, the level of democracy and other “push” factors in the countries of origin that create incentives for individuals to migrate. However, we know that international human trafficking is an involuntary form of migration and may be influenced by additional factors. I hypothesize that factors that influence the cost–benefit calculation of the trafficker determine the volume of human trafficking, in addition to the factors that affect the size of the pool of trafficking victims. I test my theory using the negative binomial regression model. My results indicate that while income inequality within a country and poor protection of women's rights are likely to produce a specific pool of victims, it is the reduction of operational costs for the trafficker that increases the number of individuals who are trafficked.     

The Formation and Manipulation of Collective Identity: A Framework for Analysis

This paper is concerned with how people involved in ‘local’ protest might come to see themselves as part of wider social groupings and even global forces of resistance. An ethnographic study of the No M11 Link Road Campaign in London examines participants' definitions of their collective identity boundaries at different stages of involvement. Cross-sectional material from the beginning and later in the campaign shows that there was a transformation in collective identity boundaries towards a more inclusive definition of ‘community’. Analysis of participants' accounts before and after involvement in the eviction of a tree suggests the role of conflict with the police in producing an oppositional definition of the collective identity, facilitating links to other groups in resistance to illegitimate authority. Finally, biographical material indicates the implications of transformed identity boundaries for co-action with wider social groups. It is argued that the same intra- and inter-group processes that determine how identity boundaries extend to include a broader community might account for how people come to see themselves as part of a global social movement.     

Demonizing the Sensible and the ‘Revolution of Our Generation’ in Rosia Montana

Abstract

‘Save Rosia Montana’ is an emblematic socio-ecological movement in post-communist Romania. It started in 2000 as a local reaction against what was projected to be the largest open-cast gold mine in Europe; it has gradually grown into a national movement with global networking. Activists have been consistently accused of acting under the impulse of an emotional luggage which could function as an impediment to understanding the ‘real’ issue, that of Romania's development. While the corporation claims to present the ‘real’ story articulated in the supposedly objective discourse of rational science, the choice to take a stance out of other beliefs has been demonized as emotional. This article will make a critical discourse analysis of corporate texts and Rosieni's testimonies to highlight what appears as ‘legitimate’ versus ‘illegitimate’ discourse, how some phrases are presented as self-evident rationales while others are dismissed as inappropriate or ‘emotional’. Rosieni have created visibilities for new things, objects, languages, and projections that have been downplayed by the post-communist political context. The conflict is not just over cognitive aspects or valuation languages but also over how one is allowed to feel, what one is allowed to enjoy (doing), how is one supposed to live (spend time), what Ranciere calls the ‘distribution of the sensible’.     

Irregular migration: an international perspective

Despite the heightened awareness of irregular migrations worldwide, a certain misappreciation or underestimation of the saliency of irregular migration issues persists. Conflict in the strife-torn Indian state of Assam, for example, has been widely publicized, but its roots in immigration issues linked to communal tensions are insufficiently understood. Conflict around the globe seems increasingly to involve, both as cause and effect, migrants in irregular status whose problematical or illegitimate presence itself is at issue. The global recession prompted governments in immigration-welcoming countries to adopt more restrictive stances vis-a-vis immigration at a time when global migratory pressures were expanding enormously. As if by a process of demonstration effect, 1 country after another began to view migratory flows with alarm--flows which previously had been regarded as benign or quantitatively unimportant. Part I of this special issue examines a variety of public responses to irregular migration. Part II looks at legalization issues in a number of national contexts. Part III contains 3 comparative reflections on immigration reform in industrial democracies. Part IV provides an overview and sampling of recent empirical and survey research findings on irregular status migrants, primarily in the US. This special issue is intended to encourage further research on irregular migration, foster better understanding of this complex phenomenon, and contribute to enlightened public policy-making.     

A history of population movement between New Zealand and Australia

"Migration between New Zealand and Australia has assumed considerable significance for both countries during the past 25 years. Commencing in the late 1960s, three major waves of net immigration from New Zealand have seen Australia's New Zealand-born population increase from 52,000 at the 1966 Census to 212,000 at the 1986 Census.... This paper aims to set these contemporary trends in historical context. So strong has been the tide flowing towards Australia that it is easy to imagine, erroneously, that it always flowed that way." Movements since the early 1800s are examined. Aspects considered include major periods of net migration, gender balance, short-term and permanent movement, and size and composition of immigrant groups. The impact of changes in migration policies over time is analyzed. The author's name is incorrectly listed as George A. Carmichael on this article. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Merchants and missionaries: Chinese evangelical networks and the transnational resacralization of European urban spaces

This article sheds new light on the diverse modes in which migration and religion intersect in shaping everyday transnational practices by exploring the articulations of religion and business migration in an emerging Chinese-led transnational mission field. Drawing on multisited ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Wenzhou, Rome and Paris, I show how a large group of transnational Chinese merchants has adopted a vigorous homegrown evangelical Christianity as the spiritual and social anchor of their territorial mercantile culture in diaspora. These merchants have actively engaged in producing religious activities and events that link China to Europe and in resacralizing secular real estate and attaching evangelistic meanings to Europe's historic urban spaces. For rural-originated migrants who embrace a global hierarchy of places, the evangelical discursive distinction between the mundane and the transcendent spheres finds expression in their perceived opposition between the peripheral local and the modern global centre in the global market economy.     

International labor migration through multinational enterprises

"This research studies international migration of company transferees. The main purposes are to address how their individual characteristics have influences on their overseas assignment and what kinds of migration patterns are created by the multinational business enterprises. U.S. firms in Taiwan are the primary study focus. By using both quantitative and qualitative data, the results show that although an overseas appointment is mainly based on individual competence, nationality, ethnicity and gender also play crucial roles. And multinationals are important channels for sustainable, return and circular migration."     

Ports of Entry as Nodes in the World System

Ports of entry are viewed as nodes in the world system where people and commodities step up and down in value as they move across borders. To understand how this happens, this article examines, in an ethnographic fashion, the interplay of inspectors and crossing populations in United States land ports with Mexico. It focuses on the categorization of commodities as legitimate or illegitimate and the movements of people in class, nationality, and gender-differentiated roles as laborers, shoppers, tourists, managers, and smugglers. It briefly surveys the Mexican-side ports with the United States and then explores new objects of regulation and systems of surveillance, such as intellectual property and national security. The ethnography not only reveals trends in the governance of international flows, but also helps us to understand the social-political construction of value and the continuing role of borders in demarcating and enforcing global inequalities in an era supposedly marked by free trade and transnational movement. Differential access to mobility and incomplete but forceful efforts at enclosure are thus shown to be crucial to the reproduction and remaking of combined and unequal spatial (world systemic) relations.     

The uncertain connection: free trade and rural Mexican migration to the United States

"Will a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) decrease Mexican migration to the United States, as the U.S. and Mexican governments assert, or increase migration beyond the movement that would otherwise occur, as NAFTA critics allege? This article argues that it is easy to overestimate the additional emigration from rural Mexico owing to NAFTA-related economic restructuring in Mexico. The available evidence suggests four major reasons why Mexican emigration may not increase massively, despite extensive restructuring and displacement from traditional agriculture....NAFTA-related economic displacement in Mexico may yield an initial wave of migration to test the U.S. labor market, but this migration should soon diminish if the jobs that these migrants seek shift to Mexico."     

Migration processes among the highly skilled in Europe

"This article seeks to show that the migration process for highly skilled workers in contemporary Europe is part of the structuring of European business. It focuses on the employer's perspective and role in articulating movement, using data from various official sources as well as survey evidence from the United Kingdom. It suggests that the increasing importance of this form of mobility is related to the process of internationalization by large employers and that the particular form of movement is dependent on the evolution of corporate business."     

Democratising Migration from the Bottom Up: The Rise of the Global Migrant Rights Movement

Abstract

This paper discusses the link between international migration and democratisation from an actor-oriented perspective on the basis of the mobilising efforts by key civil society actors engaged in the promotion of the rights of migrant workers through developing strategies towards movement building and by capitalising on political opportunities that have appeared on the global level. Being pitched at the global level and at organising patterns via the network form, the analytical framework developed takes as its starting point global justice perspectives and then builds upon insights from social movement and constructivist International Relations scholarship. It is argued that what is emerging are (1) movement practices in migrant rights networks which are putting forward increasingly coherent claims that transcend the conventional thinking about global governance and human rights (rights-assuming advocacy); and (2) that such practices are effectively transgressing interstate political arenas (participatory, rights-producing politics). It is on the basis of the cooperation between the 2 main protagonists, trade unions and migrant rights associations, that strategic positioning of migrant rights issues within the global policy debate is taking place, with the aim of promoting a rights-based approach (RBA) to migration and its governance. The combination of rights-producing politics and rights-assuming advocacy is expressed in the RBA to migration which involves the reframing of migrants rights as well as attempts to democratise migration governance in participatory terms.     

Bringing in State Regulations,Private Brokers,and Local Employers: A Meso‐Level Analysis of Labor Trafficking in Israel

This article examines the intersection of state policies, private brokers and local employers that fuels trafficking practices and forced labor of legal labor migrants. Focusing on the Israeli case of labor migration, we offer a meso‐level institutional analysis of the modes by which private brokers's actions combine with state regulations and policies in creating labor trafficking. More specifically, we stress the active role official labor migration schemes play in the growth of a private brokerage sector driven by profit considerations and in the privatization of state capacities regarding migration control and management. Our analysis demonstrates how systemic features – and not necessarily or solely criminal activities – catalyze trafficking practices taking place first and foremost within the realm of legal migration.     

Reversing the flow: agricultural development and changing migration patterns in rural Maharashtra

"In this paper we investigate the impact of rapid change from subsistence to irrigated farming [in Maharashtra, India,] and human dynamic responses to these changes from a longitudinal perspective (1975 to 1987). The study focuses on a single village, providing an in-depth and extensive analysis of both in and out-migration, characteristics of migrants, motivations for migration, experience at destination, and links with home areas, both social and economic.... The importance of migration, not only to the study village, but also to other rural areas from which in-migrants came, is also assessed." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Consecration and meritocracy in elite business schools: The case of a Swedish student union

Sociologists are paying increasing attention to the business and financial elites that control today's global economy; indeed, there's a great need to understand who these elites are, what they do, and what makes them tick, as individuals, and as a class. But we also need to understand how the economic elites aremade in the current social and economic system, and one significant way of doing this, is by examining elite business schools, that is, the institutions that aim to train and prepare people to assume important leadership and decision-making positions in business, finance and related sectors of critical importance to the management of modern capitalism. Based on the notion of consecration, I empirically examine how the student union of Sweden's premier business school, The Stockholm School of Economics, offers its members a learning environment partly separated from the school, and how this semi-independent organization contributes to making undergraduate students socially, morally and esthetically meritorious for elite jobs in primarily management consulting and finance; a process that is largely shaped by corporate actors that participate formally and informally in the student union activities. The paper contributes to the sociological literature on business schools and higher education and elites, both theoretically through the twin notions of meritocracy and consecration, and empirically through its unique focus on student union activities in an elite business school setting.