Using (and Mis-Using?) Slavery

Abstract

Today, we hear ‘slavery’ diagnosed everywhere: ‘modern slavery,’ ‘modern day slavery’, ‘modern forms of slavery’, and ‘contemporary forms of slavery’ are some of the terms. Uses of the term no longer arise from celebratory invocations of the 19th century legal prohibition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in Africans and of chattel slavery by the United Kingdom, the United States, and other European powers. Instead, the dominant contemporary use of ‘slavery’ is said to reflect the emergence of ‘new’ forms of exploitation which are similar to, yet different from, the slavery of the past. This paper will explore how the uses and misuses of ‘slavery’. The issues addressed include: (1) What are the origins of and reasons for the contemporary resurgence in the use of the term? (2) What goals are sought or achieved by ‘slavery’s’ use in the public sphere? (3) Identification of some of the contexts and mechanisms of use of the term. (4) Exploration of who benefits, and who loses, from the contemporary use. (5) How the use of ‘slavery’ can work. In exploring those issues, the paper addresses ‘slavery’ as a legal definition which may be in the process of evolution into a term which captures any form of shock-inducing contemporary exploitation; and ‘slavery’ as a tool of anti-trafficking and anti-exploitation activists.