Week 12: Globalization and Human Trafficking

Chapter 10 of our text, The Global Flow of Visual Culture, very much pertains to human trafficking as globalization largely fuels trafficking. To narrow this post, I will be focusing on cultural imperialism- an ideology or a way of life that is depicted to the world by means of cultural practices or products.

Migration is both a root cause of human trafficking, a misconception and an underlying agenda. The free-flowing system of knowledge, ideas and images use a variety of appeals to persuade an individual that a certain culture is superior, or lifestyles within a culture are dominant, oftentimes leading vulnerable populations starry-eyed and curious, inspiring them to explore the unknown and achieve the expressed ideals.  The text states that despite the ease in the exchange of information that globalization brings, national security and boarders have tightened since the 9/11 terrorist attacks (390). In terms of human trafficking, this securitization has resulted in those that wish to migrate trusting underground sources to assist in securing entry, citizenship or jobs in the destination country.

In my previous blog posts, I have discussed the counter human trafficking campaigns of Eastern Europe, argued to suppress migration, as well as the media's stereotypes of traffickers themselves, most notably a minority male. In the case of migration, the movie Taken (discussed in this previous post, aired in over 10 countries, and rooted misconceptions of the issue in over a million global citizen's minds.

These two posts can be tied into this discussion of globalization by calling into question the media's shaping of the issue, motivations (such as economic and immigration policy agendas in the US) and how this molds and contributes to our own views.  This is paradoxical- the clever packaging and framing is contrary to the supposed democratic path of information globalization is theorized to fuel (399).

Week 9: Baker's Intersectional Analysis of Sex Trafficking Films

Baker's 2014 Intersectional Analysis of Sex Trafficking Films has proved to be an extremely beneficial source for my human trafficker perpetrator portrayals mid-semester research check in. This article, a textual analysis of 7 human trafficking films over the past 16 years states that media focuses on criminal-justice solutions to trafficking instead of "broader systemic causes of sex trafficking, like globalization, economic inequality, poverty, and ethic, race and gender oppressions" (208). 

In Hollywood films, such as Trade and Taken, the issue is presented as situated in a black and white world with the common narrative being an innocent young woman is captured by a "clear bad guy" (a trafficker that is most often depicted as a violent man of a foreign origin or of color) until a heroic white male comes to the rescue (213). This construct leads to an idea of "Western racial and national dominance", most clearly outlined in the film Holly and NBC Dateline Children for Sale, both portray traffickers are of Asian descent and anyone that tries to help the trafficked girls are white.

The article also analyzes Trading Women, Sacrifice and Very Young Girls, films that divulge deeper into the issue of trafficking than the typical Hollywood film, avoiding simplifying the issue and offering criminal-justice oriented solutions. In these films, victims are shown as vulnerable and "trafficked by circumstance" (220). The silence, the trafficker, is then that the perpetrators are anyone that are willing and able to deceive a "weaker" person for their own monetary gain. Further silences also hint at the less obvious perpetrators: a failed agents of the criminal justice system that do not investigate or respond to reports of abuse.

Using this article as the main reflection of my research check-in has inspired me to begin examining my own definition of a "perpetrator" of the crime, extending it from just a trafficker to those that knowingly exploit trafficked women ("johns") and law enforcement agents or citizens that simply look the other way. Going forward in my research, I would like to see if others feel that an expansion of the definition of human trafficking perpetrator is appropriate.