Post-war Prostitution

Amidst ongoing allegations of inappropriate behavior and trafficking during UN peacekeeping missions, this volume takes a step back to analyze the post-war and peacekeeping contexts in which prostitution flourishes.

Using ethnographic research conducted in Kosovo from 2011 to 2015, this book offers an alternate understanding of the growth of the sex industry in the wake of war. It features in-depth interviews with the diverse women engaged in prostitution, with those facilitating it, and with police, prosecutors, and gynecologists.  Drawing on the perspectives of women engaged in prostitution in the wake of war, this volume argues that the depiction of these women as victims of trafficking in the hegemonic discourse does more harm than good.  Instead, it outlines the complex set of circumstances and choices that emerge in the context of a growing post-war sex economy.

Extrapolating the conclusions from the study of Kosovo, this book is a valuable resources forresearchers and practitioners studying the aftermath of war in the Balkans and beyond, and researchers engaged with the function of the UN and peacekeeping missions internationally.

Roos de Wildt conducted her PhD research in Cultural and Global Criminology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands and the University of Hamburg, Germany. After obtaining her Master of Science in Cultural Anthropology Roos worked as an international project manager at NGOs between 2007 and 2011, during which she was mainly responsible for the implementation of projects in Central and Eastern Europe. She is co-editor of Ethical Concerns in Research on Human Trafficking, alongside Dina Siegal.