Virtual Graduate Research Forum 2021
CenHTRO's Virtual Graduate Research Forum on Human Trafficking & Unfree Labor, held on December 8, 2021, was a collaborative event that brought together graduate students from the University of Georgia and University of Liverpool for an academic exchange involving research on human trafficking and unfree labor through a cross-disciplinary lens.
Event organizers include Dr. Rebecca Poon, Tenshi Kawashima, and André Gallant from CenHTRO, with assistance from Hope Dockweiler and Joy Ndungu; Brian Watkins from the Office of Global Engagment at the University of Georgia; and Helen Carlin and Oliver Kennedy from the University of Liverpool.
The Forum began with an introduction by Dr. Poon and an address by Dr. Alex Balch from the University of Liverpool. Students participated in research dialogues—short presentations followed by a Q+A session. Select video recordings of those dialogues are embedded below.
INTRODUCTION
PRESENTERS
Fahmida is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia School of Social Work. She earned her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from the University of Georgia in 2019. Her social work interests lie primarily in the areas of human trafficking, poverty and inequality, and social and immigration policy. Email Fahmida.
Mental Health of Human Trafficking Survivors: A Scoping Review
Human trafficking is a severe form of human rights violation. The purpose of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the current state of the literature on mental health of trafficking survivors and to identify gaps. Using multiple key terms, searches of online databases and Google scholar were conducted to identify eligible articles published from 2008 to 2020. From over 60 initial search results 10 articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected for this scoping review. The findings of this scoping review can serve to identify directions for future research, theory development, and practice focused on the mental health of trafficking survivors.
Morgan is a PhD candidate in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Georgia. My current research centers on the intersection of human rights and international organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and local governments. My final career aim is to effectively interact between the academic and policy communities by providing clear, accessible oral and written analysis. Email Morgan.
Optionless: Migration and Human Trafficking
Is migration a primary source of human trafficking? Advocates link the trafficking of persons to migration as a consequence of migrant vulnerability, both economically and socially. Current studies, however, must contend with availability and reliability concerns surrounding both migration and human trafficking data. Our theory of human trafficking develops common categorizations of source, transit, and/or destination state used by the United States’ Trafficking in Persons reports. We test our theory using the Human Trafficking Indicators (HTI) data set to examine participation in international human trafficking across migration policy, as well as remittance and refugee flows, allowing for global analysis of labor and conflict migration from 2000 to 2011.This study contributes more complete understanding of the vulnerability that leads to trafficking, along with a novel approach to current data issues plaguing the studies of migration human trafficking.
Matthew is a Ph.D Candidate with the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, and Civil and Political Rights Measurement Lead for the Human Rights Measurement Initiative. His research focuses include oppression, human rights measurement, and political violence. Email Matthew.
Optionless: Migration and Human Trafficking
Is migration a primary source of human trafficking? Advocates link the trafficking of persons to migration as a consequence of migrant vulnerability, both economically and socially. Current studies, however, must contend with availability and reliability concerns surrounding both migration and human trafficking data. Our theory of human trafficking develops common categorizations of source, transit, and/or destination state used by the United States’ Trafficking in Persons reports. We test our theory using the Human Trafficking Indicators (HTI) data set to examine participation in international human trafficking across migration policy, as well as remittance and refugee flows, allowing for global analysis of labor and conflict migration from 2000 to 2011.This study contributes more complete understanding of the vulnerability that leads to trafficking, along with a novel approach to current data issues plaguing the studies of migration human trafficking.
Tenshi is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow for CenHTRO’s African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) who is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in sociology at the University of Georgia. Her broad research interests include social psychology, gender, and labor inequalities. In APRIES, her primary responsibilities include development of household survey tools and analyses of quantitative data. Email Tenshi.
Network Scale-up Method (NSUM) for Prevalence Estimation: Advantages and Challenges
The network scale-up method (NSUM) was developed to help estimate prevalence of hidden populations, who are groups of people who share stigmatized characteristics such as persons with HIV, intravenous drug users, and persons who have been trafficked. NSUM involves estimating number of people in respondents’ networks who have the characteristic of interest and then extrapolating the number to the population level. In our research dialogue, we will describe the use of this methodology to measure the prevalence of child trafficking in Sierra Leone, as well as discuss the advantages and limitations of this method for estimating the prevalence of hidden populations in the developing world.
Jiacheng is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Statistics at the University of Georgia. His research interests include Small Area Estimation, Bayesian statistics, time series. His current research topic is modeling U.S. unemployment rates with Bayesian structural time series. Email Jiacheng.
Network Scale-up Method (NSUM) for Prevalence Estimation: Advantages and Challenges
The network scale-up method (NSUM) was developed to help estimate prevalence of hidden populations, who are groups of people who share stigmatized characteristics such as persons with HIV, intravenous drug users, and persons who have been trafficked. NSUM involves estimating number of people in respondents’ networks who have the characteristic of interest and then extrapolating the number to the population level. In our research dialogue, we will describe the use of this methodology to measure the prevalence of child trafficking in Sierra Leone, as well as discuss the advantages and limitations of this method for estimating the prevalence of hidden populations in the developing world.
Hongju is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Statistics at the University of Georgia. Email Hongju.
Network Scale-up Method (NSUM) for Prevalence Estimation: Advantages and Challenges
The network scale-up method (NSUM) was developed to help estimate prevalence of hidden populations, who are groups of people who share stigmatized characteristics such as persons with HIV, intravenous drug users, and persons who have been trafficked. NSUM involves estimating number of people in respondents’ networks who have the characteristic of interest and then extrapolating the number to the population level. In our research dialogue, we will describe the use of this methodology to measure the prevalence of child trafficking in Sierra Leone, as well as discuss the advantages and limitations of this method for estimating the prevalence of hidden populations in the developing world.
Elyssa has been a Pre-Doctoral Fellow for APRIES since the Fall 2019, when she started her PhD journey researching human trafficking and survivordriven interventions. Elyssa has shown her commitment to gender-based violence survivors by developing a health & wellness program for women living in India, increasing capacity in global human trafficking service programs, and creating a Victim Services Department in rural Texas. Email Elyssa.
Do Services Make a Difference? A Hierarchical Regression Model on how Trafficking Survivors’ Perception of Services Influence Long-term Outcomes
The network scale-up method (NSUM) was developed to help estimate prevalence of hidden populations, who are groups of people who share stigmatized characteristics such as persons with HIV, intravenous drug users, and persons who have been trafficked. NSUM involves estimating number of people in respondents’ networks who have the characteristic of interest and then extrapolating the number to the population level. In our research dialogue, we will describe the use of this methodology to measure the prevalence of child trafficking in Sierra Leone, as well as discuss the advantages and limitations of this method for estimating the prevalence of hidden populations in the developing world.
Wendy is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Politics at University of Liverpool. She has led development of the Antislavery Knowledge Network’s online exhibition: How can we practice freedom? and from 2022 she will be working with the the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (the Modern Slavery PEC). Email Wendy.
The Antislavery Knowledge Network: Creative, Community-led Methods
The Anti-Slavery Knowledge Network was funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) It was set up to explore how creative approaches could address contemporary forms of enslavement by adopting a community-engaged, human rights focus. This talk will give an overview of the 14 innovative, community-engaged projects that the AKN has commissioned across 8 countries in Africa: in Niger, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, DRC, Uganda, and Kenya as well as looking at the networks online exhibition currently in development.
Email Molly.
The Need for Reform: UK MSHT Policy
The UK’s modern slavery and human trafficking policy, the Modern Slavery Act 2015, was a revolutionary piece of legislation that created provisions so MSHT offences could be combatted, as well as aiming to protect victims and create the Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner role. However, since its implementation, reviews conducted by researchers, NGOs and government bodies have detailed its inefficiency, especially regarding victim support. Additionally, statistics representing the number of trafficking victims increases annually, whereas the prosecution rate for trafficking offences maintains lower. Therefore, with the aim of bridging the gap in knowledge that exists whilst gaining recommendations on how to improve trafficking policy, this research will use a sociolegal approach to analyse the relevant legislation alongside trafficking law reports to identify the core issues in practice and circulate qualitative surveys to key actors (i.e. magistrates, solicitors, NGO volunteers) asking for their anonymous opinions on the issue of trafficking in the UK.
Madelyn is a PhD researcher at the University of Liverpool. In Madelyn’s research, she draws on tropes from the Gothic genre and Magical Realism to examine the performance of ‘exaqua’ in contemporary creative responses to the Zong Massacre. Alongside her research, Madelyn is a Creative Assistant for Liverpool’s International Strategy and Delivery Group. Email Madelyn.
Recovering Ghosts from the Middle Passage: Exaqua in Fred D’Aguiar’s Feeding the Ghosts
This dialogue will discuss how we can look to literature to consider what comes next in creative approaches which seek to intervene in the historical memory of transatlantic slavery. Madelyn is researching Fred D’Aguiar’s neoslave narrative Feeding the Ghosts, and asserts we can draw on notable tropes from the literary genres of Magical Realism and the Gothic to analyse exaqua work in D’Aguiar’s response to the Zong Massacre (1781). The term exaqua was proposed by poet M. NourbeSe Philip, offering a creative term to engage with and reimagine the water-based trauma of the Zong. This dialogue will discuss how we can use creative spaces as a means of recovery, and how we can use the supernatural as a means of writing back against the legacies of transatlantic slavery.