Anthropological Frames: Survivor-Centered Approaches to Human Trafficking as a Global Health Crisis

Human trafficking awareness and mitigation is approached intellectually from all angles and disciplines: social work, human rights, international law, criminal justice, anthropology, psychology, healthcare providers, faith-based institutions, production studios, non-governmental organizations, and journalists. It is a key social justice and human rights issue of our times. Governments, international agencies, academics, and non-governmental agencies are beginning to evaluate and analyze the upsurge in human trafficking for what it is: a severe global and public health crisis. No matter the discipline, survivor-centered approaches are essential for efficacious collaborative outcomes. In this chapter, the authors illuminate issues of public and global health as it pertains to human sex trafficking in India and the United States through a collective approach between survivor, filmmaker, and anthropologist. The chapter begins with a comparative analysis of older and newer trends in slavery, shifting to a focus on human sex trafficking and its relationship to human rights, global and public health, and advocacy. It explores how survivor-centered narratives can frame the global health issue from an emic and insider’s perspective.