Description
My research project adopts collaborative autoethnographic methods to explore the lived experiences of South African activists who are survivors of human trafficking. Drawing on my own experiences of exploitation, I collaborated with a small group of survivor-activists through debate and creative journaling to examine how we define our experiences and what we believe underlies commercial sexual exploitation. The autoethnographers are Black and mixed race South African women who have lived through both apartheid and post-apartheid socioeconomic conditions.
Political theory surrounding human trafficking and “modern slavery” has long been contested. In the 17th century, it was debated whether African people brought to Europe as sexualised “ethnographic displays” were slaves or willing participants fleeing greater hardship. In the 19th century, women who financed travel across Europe through sex work were controversially labelled victims of “white slavery”. Today, women coerced into sex work are commonly described as victims of “modern slavery”. Critical scholars dispute this terminology, arguing that slavery was systemic and institutionally embedded, and that abuses by individuals outside legal frameworks are not comparable. They also forewarned that “modern slavery” narratives would be used to justify stricter border controls and maintain criminalisation of sex workers.
Debate persists over who bears responsibility for such exploitation. Governments typically focus on criminal justice and border enforcement, while critical scholars highlight structural inequalities that drive people to enter exploitative situations as survival strategies.
Across history, those labelled as slaves or victims have rarely been included in these debates. We know almost nothing of the political views of women displayed in 17th-century “freak shows,” those who travelled Europe funded by sex work, nor women described as “modern slaves” today.
My research brings survivors into this conversation—not as passive victims, but as theorisers and political agents.
