Call for Book Chapters: Human Trafficking in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean: A Comparative and Historical Analysis

Call for Book Chapters

Human Trafficking in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean: A Comparative and Historical Analysis

Editors: Michael R. Hall, José de Arimatéia da Cruz, and Sabella O. Abidde

The purpose of this project is to provide a comparative and historical assessment of Human Trafficking in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Although there is media coverage and academic literature on the subject, none provide a multiregional perspective or understanding of this global problem. Human trafficking is not a new phenomenon—a phenomenon that includes many types of forced movements and imprisonment across national and international borders for prostitution, perverse sexual activities, forced labor, domestic servitude, child soldiers, and the harvesting of body organs. Significantly, most victims of human trafficking have been women and children.

According to the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report (2019): “Each instance of human trafficking takes a common toll; each crime is an affront to the basic ideas of human dignity, inflicting grievous harm on individuals, as well as on their families and communities.” The global community, individually, and under the tutelage of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has for several years been combating Human Trafficking. According to its Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2018): “There remain significant knowledge gaps related to the patterns and flows of trafficking in persons,” and that many countries of the world “still lack sufficient capacity to record and share data on trafficking in persons.” This is so because, for the most part, the activities of human traffickers are shrouded in secrecy and many victims are ashamed to speak up publicly for fear of retribution or retribution against their family and friends.

In addition, many people do not have a clear understanding of this dangerous and alarming atrocity—an atrocity the UN asserts is at a “record high.” No part of the world is exempt from these illicit and reprehensible activities being perpetrated by a diverse population that includes criminal organizations, labor agents, organ harvesters, family members, and a web of formal and informal groups and individuals often motivated by financial inducements. This comparative study examines Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean—a region with shared experiences and similar economic and political aspirations—to make a systematic comparison of human trafficking in terms of its perpetrators, targets, and impact.

We invite academic scholars, members of civil society; and activists to submit chapters that aid in our understanding of human trafficking within and across the three regions. We have listed a few potential chapters but interested contributors may suggest topics in their field of expertise that are not so listed but which fall within the scope of the book. We anticipate a vast array of case studies based on individual areas of research and scholarship examining individual countries or regions.

POTENTIAL CHAPTER TOPICS

I. Human Trafficking Theory

• Theorizing human trafficking
• The roots human trafficking in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
• Overview of contemporary human trafficking
• The human cost of human trafficking     
• The economic cost of human trafficking
• Globalization and human trafficking

II. Case Studies of Human Trafficking

• Sex trafficking in Mexican cantinas
• Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo/Africa
• Sex tourism in the Dominican Republic or the Caribbean in general
• Organ harvesting in Guatemala or Latin America in general
• Debt bondage in Ghana or a region of Africa
• Arranged child marriages in Niger or a region of Africa  
• Ukuthwala in South Africa

III. Transnational Responses to Human Trafficking

• The OAS and Human Trafficking
• The African Union and Human Trafficking
• Human trafficking and the United Nations
• International law and human trafficking
• Social media and human trafficking
• Human rights groups and human trafficking

FORMATTING/CITATION/DUE DATES

• Submit a 300 to 350 word abstract and a 150 to 200-word bio (about the author) by 1 August 2021. You will be notified of acceptance or rejection of your abstract on 15 August 2021.     
• The completed chapter—9,000 to 9,500 words—is due 30 January 2022.
• For formatting/citation, please adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style (no in text citations, use endnotes and provide bibliography).
• Send the abstract, author biography, and general inquiries to j[email protected] and please cc the co-editors [email protected] and [email protected].

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Michael R. Hall is a professor of history in the department of history at Georgia Southern University. He holds an M.A. in International Studies and a PhD in History from Ohio University. He is the author of Sugar and Power in the Dominican Republic: Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Trujillos (2000); “Ethnic Conflict in Mexico: The Zapatista Army of National Liberation” in Santosh C. Saha, Ed., Perspectives on Contemporary Ethnic Conflict: Primal Violence or the Politics of Conviction (2006); Historical Dictionary of Haiti (2012); and “Castro and Cabral: Cuban Assistance in the Struggle for Independence in Guinea-Bissau and Cabo Verde” in Sabella Abidde and Charity Manyeruke, Eds. Fidel Castro and Africa’s Liberation Struggle (2020). He is the Book Review Editor of the Journal of Global South Studies.

José de Arimatéia da Cruz is a professor of international relations and international studies in the department of political science & international studies at Georgia Southern University, Georgia. He holds a PhD in political science from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Dr. Cruz is a former Research Professor at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute; and a Research Fellow at the Brazil Research Unit Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA). Visiting Professor at the Department of International and Diplomatic Studies Prague School of Economics and Business. He is the co-author of “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 10: Military Takes Control of Policing in Rio de Janeiro,” Small Wars Journal, 23 February 2018; and “Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 9: Concerns About Potential Gang Influence on Upcoming Brazilian Elections,” Small Wars Journal, 25 January 2018. He is a Small Wars Journal-El Centro Fellow.

Sabella O. Abidde is a professor of political science at Alabama State University. He holds an M.A. in political science from Minnesota State University Mankato, and a PhD in African Studies, World Affairs, Public Policy and Development Studies from Howard University. His edited volumes on Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean include The Challenges of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (2021); Fidel Castro and Africa’s Liberation Struggle (2020); and Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean: The Case for Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation (2018). He is a member of the Association of Global South Studies (AGSS); the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA); the Latin American Studies Association (LASA); and the African Studies/Research Forum (ASRF).