Human Trafficking: A Complex Phenomenon of Globalization and Vulnerability

In the post-Cold War era, economic globalization has resulted in the buying and selling of human beings. Poverty, social instability, lawlessness, gender biases, and ethnic hostility have entrapped millions in the world of modern day slavery, with the result that human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world. Every year, men, women, and children from across the globe are transported within or across borders for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Despite the plethora of journalistic articles written on human trafficking there is a need for more rigorous academic analysis of the phenomenon.

Although groups from many different ideologies have embraced policies to end human trafficking, there are still many gaps and unanswered questions, particularly with regard to the amount of, and nature of the phenomenon. This book provides an insight into the complexity of human trafficking by addressing both how the scope of globalization impacts the sex industry and forced labor, and how vulnerability is a growing cause of human trafficking, affecting traditional diasporic and migratory patterns. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Intercultural Studies.

Natividad Gutiérrez Chong is a research professor at the National University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. She holds an M.Sc and Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. She has coordinated several national and international projects related to ethnicity and nationalisms in Latin America and China. She is currently researching ethnic conflicts, trafficking, racism and gender.

Jenny Bryson Clark is Associate Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies Chair at South Texas College, McAllen, Texas, USA. For the last ten years, she has been actively involved in researching human trafficking and has been creating awareness about trafficking through organizing annual international conferences. She is currently conducting research on gender inequality and trafficking in India.