Human Trafficking: Atlantic Trade to Contemporary

Human trafficking is an enduring element of world history. This course will introduce students to the underside of globalization, to the process through which human beings are turned into commodities and bought and sold on the international market. 'Modernity' in the course is seen both through the eyes of the slavers as well as through the eyes of the enslaved, and the combined effect for students will be a dark journey to the depths of the world economy. The course begins with an in-depth assessment of the Atlantic trade and the rise of Europe. But rather than consider this history as safely confined to the past, the second half of the course considers the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in which enslavement changes form, but not function. The ubiquity of enslavement will lead us to many places: Europe, Latin America, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Australia and Asia. The readings will include prize winning histories of enslavement and investigative journalism which reveals the contemporary situation. Abolitionism will be a focus as well, from its rise in the nineteenth century to its current resurgence. The inspiring strategies that enslaved people undertook to survive their bondage will be a feature throughout and are a testament to the human spirit. The major piece of assessment is a primary research paper that will allow students to discover new dimensions of this hidden history.