Oswego students will travel to India this month to learn firsthand about the major international challenge of human trafficking.

For the “History of Human Trafficking” course taught by Geraldine Forbes, distinguished teaching professor of history, the students will visit Kolkata (Calcutta) and Delhi to speak to academics, activists and those victimized by the slave trade.

Economic globalization has led to an increasing migration of labor, some of it via trafficking that is a new form of slavery, Forbes said. “Estimates differ, but some scholars argue that as many as 27 million people are enslaved around the world, and it is estimated that at least half of them have been trafficked,” some involved in sex slavery or working as domestic servants, she noted.

The United Nations has declared trafficking a human rights issue and the United States has officially condemned it. “This international issue commands a great deal of attention from world leaders,” Forbes said. “Nationally, it commands attention and resources, and affects the United States’ foreign relations.”

The course, offered for the first time this fall, looks at this serious global problem in context with slavery from ancient times to today. The culminating study-abroad portion runs Jan. 9 to 19.

Student interest

Students with a range of majors, reasons and future plans will make the journey. “This experience in Kolkata will give them an opportunity to explore how academics and activists in India conceptualize and try to combat one kind of human trafficking, sex trafficking,” Forbes said.

Anthropology major Diane Ortiz ’10 will conduct an independent study of HIV in India, doing research and putting a human face on the issue. “This is my first time going to a developing nation. I’m looking forward to speaking to people there and learning what they’ve gone through,” said Ortiz, who is specializing in medical anthropology.

“I am very interested in human rights violations,” said Lauren Sordellini ’11, an education major with a social studies concentrate. “I want to join the Peace Corps. I think taking the class for this and seeing other developing nations will further help me in what I want to do with my life.”

History major Brianne Welser ’11 plans to attend graduate school for studies related to slavery. “I’ve studied American slavery but I want to broaden my knowledge,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to go to India and be immersed in a different culture because I think it would help me grow as a person as well.”

Jill Hyland ’11, a global and international studies major, said she has been interested in the issue since discussing it in a course her first semester. “I’m really interested in meeting people there, especially the girls who have been trafficked,” said Hyland, who also wants to learn about nongovernmental organizations as a possible career.

Academic partnership

The course is a first concrete step toward what Forbes hopes will become an active research and teaching partnership between the Oswego Women’s Studies Program and the Women’s Studies Research Centre of Calcutta University, which will organize and run the lessons in India.

Professor Sanjukta Dasgupta of that university coming to Oswego as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence in fall 2006 spurred discussions of an academic partnership. A summer 2007 visit and talks by professor Ishita Mukhopadhyay created further interest in developing joint projects between the institutions.

“Calcutta University’s women’s studies faculty, which includes individuals who have written and published on sex trafficking and others who are currently engaged in research relevant to this, is ideally suited to host and discuss this topic with students,” Forbes said. “In addition to presenting lectures to the students, members of the Women’s Studies Research Centre have agreed to set up field trips, which will show the students some of Kolkata’s amazing anti-trafficking projects.”

-- Tim Nekritz M ’05

PHOTO CAPTION:
SUNY Oswego students will travel to India in January to learn more about the country and the global challenge of human trafficking. Trying on the sari, the traditional garb of India, are Lauren Sordellini ’11, Diane Ortiz ’10, Brianne Welser ’10, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History Dr. Geraldine Forbes and Meredith Lafferty ’10.

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