Assistant Professor of Anthropology Sholeh Shahrokhi has written a chapter for a new book called Sex Trafficking, Human Rights, and Social Justice, published by Routledge.
The chapter, titled “Beyond ‘Tragedy’: A Cultural Critique of Sex Trafficking of Young Iranian Women,” looks at the stories of Iranian women forced into the sex trades.
Shahrokhi explains: “While a great deal of scholarship has focused on the discourses of the victimization and struggles of the trafficked women, few studies have centered on the stories of the migrant subjects themselves. By contrast, through the aid of ethnographic research, this work suggests that instead of objectifying women migrants as trafficked victims, we need to re-center the lived experiences of women migrant sex workers.
“Furthermore, this work challenges the use of singular narrative of ‘economic disparity’ as the sole source for women to ‘fall prey’ to trafficking peril. Instead, this chapter offers a critical reading of the complex oral/textual history and normative practices which shape the attitudes toward sex, sexuality and the woman’s body, which contribute to the emergence of sex trafficking in southern regions of Iran.”
More information about the book is available here.
Shahrokhi earned her doctorate from the University of California Berkeley in 2008 and joined the Butler faculty that year. She also has contributed to an upcoming book, Iranian War Cinema: The Art of Remembering Pain, which is due out this summer.
Media Contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
(317) 940-9822
