The value of bodies: Deception, helping and profiteering in human trafficking along the Thai-Lao border

Sverre Molland*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    21 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Over the last two decades, increasing attention has been given to trafficking in persons globally. Governments, international organisations and the media generally assume that trafficking is immensely profitable. This paper problematises this assumption in light of ethnographic research within the sex industry along the Thai-Lao border. It argues that the cross-border recruitment of Lao women into the Thai sex industry constitutes a mixture of capitalist logic and patron-client relationships. It is therefore not possible, as some antitrafficking programs attempt to do, to read probabilities of trafficking out of mechanical models of profitability and unilateral maximisation of social actors.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)211-229
    Number of pages19
    JournalAsian Studies Review
    Volume34
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2010

    Keywords

    • Commercial sex
    • Development aid
    • Human trafficking
    • Thai-lao border

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