Constructing Human Trafficking

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Trafficking Is Problematic

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 1-27

3. Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 29-68

4. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 69-113

5. “Especially Women and Children”

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 115-161

6. Who’s to Bless and Who’s to Blame

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 163-196

7. Victims, Villains, and the Virtuous

   • Jennifer K. Lobasz

   Pages 197-204

8. Back Matter

   Pages 205-210

   PDF

Human trafficking has come to be seen as a growing threat, and transnational advocacy networks opposed to human trafficking have succeeded in establishing trafficking as a pressing political problem. The meaning of human trafficking, however, remains an object of significant—and heated—contestation. This project draws upon feminist and poststructuralist international relations theories to offer a genealogy of U.S. neo-abolitionism. The analysis examines activist campaigns, legislative and policy debates, and legislation surrounding human trafficking and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in order to argue that the dominant US framing of trafficking as prostitution and sex slavery is not as hegemonic as scholars and activists commonly argue. In fact, constructions of human trafficking have become more amenable to reconfiguration, paradoxically in large part because of Evangelical attempts to widen the frame. This is an empirically novel and theoretically rich account of an urgent transnational issue of concern to activists, voters and policymakers around the globe. 

• human trafficking
• feminism
• evangelical Christianity
• human rights
• gender
• globalization
• neo-abolitionism
• Trafficking Victims Protection Act
• prostitution
• sex slavery
• activism
• trafficking

“This book is a must-read for anyone (scholar, practitioner, student) interested in trafficking and sex work. It includes the clearest and most effective analysis of feminist abolitionism that I have read. Lobasz also deftly balances a critical exploration of the contested nature of anti-trafficking discourses with what she calls a ‘generous’ account of these discourses, so as to thoughtfully engage with audiences that are not already convinced by the critiques.” (Meghana V. Nayak, Professor of Political Science, Chair of Women's and Gender Studies, Pace University, USA)

“Constructing Human Trafficking will change the way you think about trafficking. With lively prose and fascinating historical detail, Jennifer K. Lobasz narrates the emergence of trafficking as a humanitarian concern, and shows how its depoliticization became the basis of an unlikely alliance between feminists and evangelical Christians. An important book for anyone engaged in the problem of trafficking.” (Cara Daggett, Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech, USA)

“Constructing Human Trafficking is a unique and singular contribution—it demonstrates that even a concept that seems straightforward like ‘human trafficking’ has both constructed and contested meanings. Lobasz’s discourse analysis is thorough and revealing, and provides crucial insights to any feminist—or any policymaker—interested in taking trafficking seriously.” (Laura Sjoberg, Department of Political Science, University of Florida, USA)

• Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, Wilmington, USA

  Jennifer K. Lobasz

Jennifer K. Lobasz is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science & International Relations and the Department of Women & Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, USA.

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