January 2014 – Bondage and environment

Human Trafficking in Thailand

Recently published at Washington University Press :

SIROK SORAJJAKOOL, Human Trafficking in Thailand. Current Issues, Trends, and the Role of the Thai Government.

“Few subjects elicit greater moral outrage than human trafficking. Media reports of dehumanizing practices such as slavery, abduction, child prostitution, and torture, along with shocking statistics, form the basis of public knowledge.

With sensitivity and candor, this book addresses the reality of human trafficking in Thailand, dissecting studies, presenting facts, and dismissing stereotypes. It focuses on the areas of fishing, agriculture, domestic work, sex work, and the trafficking of children, weaving individual narratives and official studies into the wider history of Thailand’s changing economy and labor situation.

Siroj Sorajjakool is professor of religion, psychology, and counseling at Loma Linda University, California.”

Publisher’s webpage

“Slavery in Africa: Past, Heritage, Present”

The organizing committee of the international conference, “Slavery in Africa: Past, Heritage, Present” are inviting all interested researchers to submit paper or panel proposals. The conference will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from October 27-29, 2014.

This international conference seeks to mark a significant moment in the reactivation and intensification of research on slavery in Africa. The conference will look at all types of sources, – oral, written and audio-visual, – with a particular focus on the collection and analysis of testimonies by slaves and their descendants. Moreover, the conference aims to promote a better understanding of the links between African slavery and different slave trades, which have been studied extensively in African historiography.

For more details, click here or download the flyer.

Announcing “The Indian Ocean in World History”

Edward A. Alpers, The Indian Ocean in World History, Oxford University Press, 2013, 184 p.

A new volume in the New Oxford World History

The New Oxford World History is an innovative series that offers readers an informed, lively, and up-to-date history of the world and its people, representing a significant change from the “old” world history. “New” world history emphasizes connectedness and interactions of all kinds – cultural, economic, political, religious, and social – involving peoples, places, and processes. Each volume in this series is written by a leading authority and explores not only political events, but also social, cultural, and economic trends, and it highlights global interactions and the intersection of the global and the local.

Announcing “Britain’s Oceanic Empire, Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, c.1550–1850”

H. V. Bowen, Elizabeth Mancke, John G. Reid (eds.), Britain’s Oceanic Empire, Atlantic and Indian Ocean Worlds, c.1550–1850, Cambridge University Press, 2012, 486 p.

“DescriptionContentsResourcesAbout the Authors
This pioneering comparative study of British imperialism in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds draws on the perspectives of British newcomers overseas and their native hosts, of metropolitan officials and corporate enterprises, migrants and settlers. Leading scholars examine the divergences and commonalities in the legal and economic regimes that allowed Britain to project imperium across the globe. They explore the nature of sovereignty and law, governance and regulation, diplomacy, military relations and commerce, shedding new light on the processes of expansion that influenced the making of empire. While acknowledging the distinctions and divergences in imperial endeavours in Asia and the Americas – not least in terms of the size of indigenous populations, technical and cultural differences, and approaches to indigenous polities – this book argues that these differences must be seen in the context of what Britons overseas shared, including constitutional principles, claims of sovereignty, disciplinary regimes and military attitudes.”

Presentation on the publisher’s webpage