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Immoral Traffic: An Ethnography of Law, NGOs, and the Governance of Prostitution in India

Immoral Traffic: An Ethnography of Law, NGOs, and the Governance of Prostitution in India

Author: Vibhuti Ramachandran
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009490290
Published In: April 2025
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.S. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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This insightful ethnography delves into the complex intersection of India's anti-prostitution law and global anti-trafficking campaigns, and how they impact sex workers in both voluntary and involuntary situations. Immoral Traffic examines the role of legal actors and NGOs in implementing these interventions, revealing the mix of paternalism, humanitarianism, punitive care, bureaucracy, and morality in their efforts. Through a sequence of interventions prescribed by India's anti-prostitution law, the book follows the experiences of sex workers, from rescues to courts to carceral shelters. It sheds light on the ways in which donor-driven NGOs draw upon this law to implement anti-trafficking agendas, and how these interventions are navigated by women removed from the sex trade. Detailed and eye-opening, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of anthropology, law and society, gender and sexuality studies, South Asian studies, global studies, and critical studies of NGOs and humanitarianism.

Pairs rich ethnographic research across multiple socio-legal sites governing prostitution in India with an analysis that spans the Indian context and global anti-trafficking campaigns
Highlights the roles of state agencies, legal actors, and NGOs, how they work together, how their interventions impact the women they target, and how women navigate them
Corrects prevalent misconceptions and preconceived notions about sex trafficking, prostitution, and legal systems in the Global South

The author, Vibhuti Ramachandran, is an Assistant Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her work connects the anthropology of law, NGOs, and the Indian state, and her broader interests include gender and sexuality,care and punishment, and labor and migration. The University of California's Hellman Fellowship supported the completion of this book.

1. Law, NGOs, and the Governance of Prostitution in India

2. A Tale of Two Rescues: Navigating Victimhood and the Politics of Intervention

3. 'These girls never give statements:' 'Victim-Witness Testimony' in a Delhi Court

4. Proving Prostitution: Evidence and Respectability in a Mumbai Court

5. 'She is not revealing anything:' Navigating Inquiries, Documents, and Kinship in a Mumbai Court

6. From 'House of Horrors' to 'Sensitive' Governance: Shelter Detention in Mumbai

Conclusion: The ITPA and Beyond.