Description
Book SynopsisSusanne Åsman provides a compelling ethnographic account of how Tamang women and men in the Sindhupalchowk district, defined by human rights horganizations as severely affected by sex trafficking, understand what they define as Bombay going or migration for sex work. This ground-breaking work focuses on women's agency and the meaning they ascribe to their roles as sex workers in the migratory process in the present and the past. Åsman investigates how they carve out a space for themselves and create relatedness in the places between which they movetheir house in the rural area in Nepal and the brothels in Mumbai that temporarily serve as their homes during their absence. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics of sex trafficking, gender, agency and women's migration for sex work in the global south.
Trade Review“Through rich ethnography Asman brings us into the world of gendered migration in South Asia with all of its nuances and complexities. A book that challenges received notions of ‘home’ and ‘away’, embodiment, victimhood, and agency, Asman pulls no punches in this critical read that is a much needed intervention in our oversimplified conversations about trafficking, labor, and migration.” -- Pardis Mahdavi, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
"An important and rich account of Tamang women's experience of sex work: drawing upon 10 years of extraordinary fieldwork—in Maoist-controlled villages in central Nepal and in Mumbai’s red-light district—Åsman focuses on the agency of Tamang women who have gone to work in those brothels and their efforts to remain connected to, to provide support for, and to return to their Nepal homes. Åsman's is a much-needed, in-depth, empathetic, and non-judgmental study which challenges and refines the usual contemporary I/NGO 'rescue' narrative of women universally 'victimized' by 'sex-trafficking'." - Kathryn March, Cornell University -- Kathryn March, Cornell University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Remembrance (and Forgetting) of Changes in Women’s Migration for Sex Work Chapter 2: The House Chapter 3: The Red Light District: Brothel and Home Chapter 4: Return
