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Item Human trafficking in Mindanao : personal narratives and local perspectives : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Lennox Townsend, Amie L.Academic as well as popular attention to human trafficking has increased dramatically in recent years, while the demands for immediate action have meant that counter-measures, from political legislation to direct intervention, have often preceded research-based insights. Researchers have demonstrated the value of close research in understanding this phenomenon. However, such in-depth local research is still an emerging area, and little work has been done on the Philippines specifically. In Mindanao, known issues include various forms of labour trafficking, sex trafficking, underage soldiers, and trafficking of migrants. Human trafficking in Mindanao is a complex problem, both in terms of the multiple forms of trafficking that occur and the Philippines’ unique social setting. The purpose of this research has been to explore how human trafficking in Mindanao relates to wider social processes. I lived in Eastern Mindanao for five months of fieldwork, from December 2015 to May 2016. During this time, I talked with and interviewed people who had experienced exploitative labour, human trafficking, or trafficking-like practices, whose life stories are at the centre of this research. I also spoke with government and NGO workers from anti-trafficking and related agencies who provided insights into trafficking and local conditions, as well as relevant community members such as former migrants and sexual labourers. In this thesis, my original contribution to knowledge is an exploration and analysis of the social context which influences human trafficking in Mindanao, based on first-person accounts which are contextualised in the wider society and theoretically analysed through a framework of structural, symbolic, and compounding violence. Drawing on anthropological approaches to violence, I have considered human trafficking as a form of violence in the context of multiple violences. Within this framework I also present the idea of compounding violence as a lens to explore and conceptualise the ways that violence often leads to further violence. My findings suggest that human trafficking in Mindanao is an outcome and extension of local social conditions, not separate to normal social processes and realities, and one manifestation of wider compounding structural violence. At the same time, I argue that the narratives from those who have experienced trafficking also reveal deep and complex cultural, social, and personal expressions of meaning, resilience, and hope within constrained, unequal, and even violent circumstances.Item Protesting sex slavery : the textile doll as activism : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of Master of Fine Arts, Massey University, Wellington(Massey University, 2017) White, RosieNatural disasters, climate change, war and poverty have increased the vulnerability of migrants to modern slavery. Human traffickers prey upon post-disaster migrant populations who are vulnerable to promises of jobs and security. And among the most vulnerable are children, who are often given no choices. The incredibly sad yet lucrative side of sex trafficking is that a child or a young person’s body can be sold repeatedly for high profit with low overheads – often leading to a lifetime of severe trauma. This project involves the textile practice of cloth dolls. Dolls have rich cultural significance. They are used in children’s play, religious ceremonies, and are often dressed in national costumes. They are used in counselling to help victims deal with traumatic experiences. And as artist Eric Fischl (Fischl 2015) points out, they are a widespread genre in contemporary art, used by artists such as Hans Belmar, Cindy Sherman, Louise Bourgeois, and Morten Bartlett. And textiles themselves have been used as a form of protest from suffragette banners to the dolls of the Chilean Arpilleras. The cloth dolls that have been made as part of this project highlight and protest issues of sex trafficking. The dolls are darned and patched, just as the women and children, who are rescued by organisations that fight against modern slavery, need mending and restoration. They have a name tag on their ankles with a URL directing people to an agency that fights modern slavery and its consequences. They have been left in public places and displayed in a gallery setting.Item The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice : evangelical Christians engaging with social justice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2016) Rivera-Puddle, CatherineThis research explores how young evangelical Christians frame the concept of social justice, in particular relating to human trafficking. In the last fifteen years there has been a considerable increase in the number of Evangelicals who are becoming interested in, and participating with, initiatives that have an emphasis on social justice issues. This is a change from evangelical missionary activity which focuses mainly on proselytising and ‘soul winning’. My ethnographic research was conducted amongst of a group of young evangelicals who were students at a ‘justice based’ Christian training school in New Zealand. Fieldwork consisted of participant observation of the course lectures and interviewing fourteen students from eight different countries. I found the main motivator for the students’ interest in social justice were personal experiences they had with God where he ‘broke their heart’ over issues such as human trafficking. How they then engaged with social justice was mediated by digital technology, especially social media. They were also influenced by changing theology as to the character and nature of God, and what it means to be a Christian in a globalized world. Using Bruno Latour’s ‘modes of existence’ theory and Michael Jackson’s Existential phenomenological lens, I argue that social science needs to allow spiritual beings to be ‘real’ in order to understand the worldview of people like my participants, who order their lives through divine encounters and relationships with God. My findings showed that the literature on evangelicals and human trafficking is insufficient because the experiential nature of evangelical Christianity is not taken into account. Experience, rather than belief, is the primary motivation for interest in social justice for young evangelicals.