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Passionately written, brilliantly researched and replete with powerfully logical analysis, Julia O'Connell book should be required reading for anyone claiming leadership in today's 'new abolitionist movement.' Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom establishes beyond dispute that today's self-described antislavery movement fails to address the fundamental realities of what slavery actually is and what is driving its rapid expansion all over the globe. Why, the book asks, do today's abolitionists focus so narrowly on certain forms of enslavement while utterly ignoring so many other equally heinous practices? The deeply disturbing answers to this question demand that today's abolitionists reexamine our beliefs and revise our basic assumptions. - James Brewer Stewart, Founder, Historians Against Slavery and James Wallace Professor of History Emeritus, Macalester College, USA In this boldly provocative and challenging book, Julia O'Connell Davidson asks searching questions of contemporary initiatives to end slavery and the mobilization of the idea of 'modern slavery'. 'Modern slavery', she argues, is less a clearly definable phenomenon than a site of political contestation over, among other things, what it means to be human. O'Connell Davidson rigorously calls into question the definitions being used by NGOs and other actors and asks whose interests are being served by the new abolitionist campaigns. The clarity of exposition and the humanity of the argument leave no doubt as to her own political commitments to justice in this latest moral battleground over issues of global inequality.' - Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK and author of Rethinking Modernity and Connected Sociologies In this powerful critique of the 'new abolitionists' and their limited vision of the meanings of slavery and freedom, Julia O'Connell Davidson draws on the rich literature on transatlantic slavery together with ethnographic and interview research on forms of labour defined by some as 'modern slavery' to challenge new orthodoxies. Ranging from discussions of the specificity of chattel labour in the New World to child migrants and sex-workers in today's global economy, she raises vital questions as to what it means to be a person, what it means to be free? 'Modern slavery', she convincingly demonstrates, should be thought of as a zone of political contestation rather than a thing, urgently in need of debate and analysis. Modern Slavery: the Margins of Freedom is a vital contribution to that debate.' - Catherine Hall, Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History, UCL, UK 'Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom is a compelling and timely book. In this richly contextualized volume, Julia O'Connell Davidson charts the fraught stakes of framing the fight against human trafficking as a global struggle against modern slavery . She delivers an incisive critique of the various actors, from NGOs to state governments, their political investments, and dominant discourses driving the popular new abolitionist advocacy campaigns. By connecting modern slavery to the historical forms of servitude that preceded it, Davidson's provocative study explores the liberal ideologies that underlie these public campaigns and fuel the unprecedented expansion of immigration detention and border policing in western democratic states. Modern Slavery is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the complex discursive histories of the anti-trafficking movement.'- Edlie L. Wong, University of Maryland, US

It is a beautiful example of interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences scholarship. Davidson's work should push us to move across disciplinary boundaries to improve the quality and broaden the audience of our work. ... it would be a worthwhile addition to any undergraduate- or graduate-level seminar on slavery. ... This compelling, persuasive, and confident book does the important work of showing that scholars can bring historical scholarship into conversation with contemporary issues. (Whitney Stewart, H-Slavery, networks.h-net.org, July, 2017) This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the complex discursive histories of the anti-trafficking movement, and it will be of great interest to the readers of Border Criminologies. (Ilse van Liempt, Border Criminologies, law.ox.ac.uk, January, 2017)

Passionately written, brilliantly researched and replete with powerfully logical analysis, Julia O'Connell book should be required reading for anyone claiming leadership in today's 'new abolitionist movement.' Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom establishes beyond dispute that today's self-described antislavery movement fails to address the fundamental realities of what slavery actually is and what is driving its rapid expansion all over the globe. Why, the book asks, do today's abolitionists focus so narrowly on certain forms of enslavement while utterly ignoring so many other equally heinous practices? The deeply disturbing answers to this question demand that today's abolitionists reexamine our beliefs and revise our basic assumptions. - James Brewer Stewart, Founder, Historians Against Slavery and James Wallace Professor of History Emeritus, Macalester College, USA

Passionately written, brilliantly researched and replete with powerfully logical analysis, Julia O'Connell book should be required reading for anyone claiming leadership in today's 'new abolitionist movement.' Modern Slavery and the Margins of Freedom establishes beyond dispute that today's self-described antislavery movement fails to address the fundamental realities of what slavery actually is and what is driving its rapid expansion all over the globe. Why, the book asks, do today's abolitionists focus so narrowly on certain forms of enslavement while utterly ignoring so many other equally heinous practices? The deeply disturbing answers to this question demand that today's abolitionists reexamine our beliefs and revise our basic assumptions. - James Brewer Stewart, Founder, Historians Against Slavery and James Wallace Professor of History Emeritus, Macalester College, USA In this boldly provocative and challenging book, Julia O'Connell Davidson asks searching questions of contemporary initiatives to end slavery and the mobilization of the idea of 'modern slavery'. 'Modern slavery', she argues, is less a clearly definable phenomenon than a site of political contestation over, among other things, what it means to be human. O'Connell Davidson rigorously calls into question the definitions being used by NGOs and other actors and asks whose interests are being served by the new abolitionist campaigns. The clarity of exposition and the humanity of the argument leave no doubt as to her own political commitments to justice in this latest moral battleground over issues of global inequality.' - Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK and author of Rethinking Modernity and Connected Sociologies In this powerful critique of the 'new abolitionists' and their limited vision of the meanings of slavery and freedom, Julia O'Connell Davidson draws on the rich literature on transatlantic slavery together with ethnographic and interview research on forms of labour defined by some as 'modern slavery' to challenge new orthodoxies. Ranging from discussions of the specificity of chattel labour in the New World to child migrants and sex-workers in today's global economy, she raises vital questions as to what it means to be a person, what it means to be free? 'Modern slavery', she convincingly demonstrates, should be thought of as a zone of political contestation rather than a thing, urgently in need of debate and analysis. Modern Slavery: the Margins of Freedom is a vital contribution to that debate.' - Catherine Hall, Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History, UCL, UK

This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the complex discursive histories of the anti-trafficking movement, and it will be of great interest to the readers of Border Criminologies. (Ilse van Liempt, Border Criminologies, law.ox.ac.uk, January, 2017)

Author Information

Julia O'Connell Davidson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bristol, UK. Her research interests include employment relations, sex work, childhood, migration, trafficking and slavery, and she is author of Children in the Global Sex Trade (2005), Prostitution, Power and Freedom (1998), and Privatization and Employment Relations (1993).

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