Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2014

Publication Source

PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review

Abstract

Drawing upon ethnographic work with a grassroots sex workers’ organization in Calcutta, Durbar Samanwaya Samiti (Durbar), this article analyzes the relationship between subalternity and silence. I discuss how sex workers, especially new entrants, use silence as a subaltern strategy to resist state and non-state surveillance intended to oppose trafficking. The increased surveillance is a direct result of the global anti-trafficking narrative, led mainly by the United States, in which developing countries, like India, adopt measures to avoid being downgraded in the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Report. I contend that these national and international efforts have led to a quandary where the lives of these sex workers are rendered inaudible. Here I specifically examine the practices of the Self-Regulatory Board, established by Durbar to identify new entrants who may have been unwilling trafficked and do not want to join the profession. I argue that the Board, in replicating state practices, in effect has created an environment where women prefer to embrace silence in order to confront its power.

Inclusive pages

109-125

ISBN/ISSN

1081-6976

Document Version

Postprint

Comments

The paper available for download is the author's accepted manuscript.

Some differences may exist between the manuscript and the published version; as such, researchers wishing to quote directly from this resource are advised to consult the version of record.

Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA)

Volume

37

Issue

1

Peer Reviewed

yes

Keywords

sex work, trafficking, India, subaltern, silence

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