Citation

Ramachandran V. Humanity (Philadelphia, PA) 2019; 10(3): 339-362.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, University of Pennsylvania Press)

DOI

10.1353/hum.2019.0027

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In recent years, anti-trafficking NGOs in New Delhi have highlighted the exploitative aspects of domestic work in India, rescuing impoverished young rural migrant girls brought by unregulated "placement agencies" to work in urban homes. This article examines how these donor-driven NGOs employ the U.S.-driven, globally pervasive frameworks of human trafficking and "modern-day slavery," while working within the provisions of postcolonial Indian laws, and conducting rescues with the local police. Through ethnographic observations of a rescue operation, the article explores what it means to save a slaving child from domestic labor. It argues that the tensions between and among those subjected to exploitative work conditions and those rescuing them reveal conflicting constructions of slavery, trafficking, child labor, and childhood itself.

Keywords: Human trafficking;

Language: en