GPIS Thesis Defense 3/1/16

Old Dominion University

College of Arts and Letters

The Graduate Program in International Studies

Thesis Defense

Under the Surface of Sex Trafficking: Social, Economic and Cultural Perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence in India

Karmen Matusek

This work will focus on the act of sex trafficking in India as a gendered representation of three distinct dimensions of India's existing conditions: 1) gender inequality, 2) historic and current cultural scripts, and 3) socio-economic conditions.  This paper contends that these three dimensions are at the heart of sex trafficking and serve as forms of violence against women. Furthermore, in adding to the literature, this paper proposes a victim-focused/human rights focused approach, which will assist India in successfully combating trafficking within its own borders and lend new levels of analysis in understanding systemic responses to this global circumstance so central to the context of globalization.  In supporting these claims, this project analyzes a combination of qualitative and quantitative data sets, primarily categorized as secondary sources, which have been compiled throughout several years on the topic of sex trafficking.  Furthermore, in supporting a victim-focused/human rights focused approach, information gathered from interviews with two employees of the South African organization Activists Networking Against the Exploitation of Children (ANEX), as well as South African service provider guidelines to assisting victims of trafficking, will be detailed and analyzed.

Thesis Chair:              Dr.  Jennifer Fish

Thesis Committee:     Dr.  David Earnest                                                                                  Dr.  Angelica Huizar

Batten Arts and Letters Building

Room 7009

March 1

10:45 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Karmen Matusek Defense-rev.docx  (13.4 KB)

Posted By: Margo Stambleck
Date: Mon Feb 29 09:46:00 EST 2016