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Trafficking in Women and the Politics of Mobility in Europe

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Trafficking in Women and the Politics of Mobility in Europe TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND THE POLITICS OF MOBILITY IN EUROPE HANDEL IN VROUWEN EN DE POLITIEK VAN MOBILITEIT IN EUROPA (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Utrecht op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. dr. W. H. Gispen ingevolge het besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op 17 november 2004 des middags te 12.45 uur door Rutvica Andrijasevic geboren op 31 juli 1972 te Rijeka, Kroatië FACULTEIT DER LETTEREN Promotor: Prof. dr. Rosi Braidotti (Universiteit Utrecht) This dissertartion was financially supported by: Open Society Institute, Budapest Central European University Supplementary Grant,1998 Open Society Institute, New York Global Supplementary Grant, 2001, 2002 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Bonn Short Term Research Grant, 2002 Karel Frederik Stichting, Fonds voor studie en bijzondere noden, Utrecht Subsidie, 2002 Stichting Internationale Informatie en Communicatie, den Haag Subsidie, 2002 Onderzoeksinstituut Geschiedenis en Cultuur, Letteren Faculteit,Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht International PhD Scholarship, 2003, 2004 ii Acknowledgements I have been told many times that writing a dissertation is a solitary occupation, a one- person show. Yet, if it were not for a number of people who generously shared their knowledge and time with me, I could not have written this PhD. First and foremost, I am thankful to the women who took part in this study and whose lives gave shape to this dissertation. I am especially grateful that they shared with me their stories, since these are the stories they were trying to forget. My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor, Rosi Braidotti, whose guidance and wisdom helped me to shape my material and look for the right theoretical tools. Her ability to identify the discontinuities in my writing continuously challenged my thinking; her critical passion and intellectual humour encouraged me to keep pushing the boundaries of my work. If it were not for her insightful comments, parts of this dissertation would have been quite unreadable. And, if it were not for her creative drive and immense generosity, the introductory chapter would have remained scattered. I would also like to thank all of my colleagues at Women’s Studies graduate seminars in Utrecht and especially Rosemarie Buikema, Gloria Wekker, and Sarah Bracke. In and out the seminars they offered precious comments and insightful directions that helped me to navigate the intricacies of feminist theory. I am grateful to Rosemarie Buikema and Gloria Wekker who have read parts of an earlier version of this manuscript and helped me sharpen my ideas and critical tools. Sarah Bracke was my constant intellectual companion on this PhD journey. We started our PhDs together and finished them together. We supported and encouraged each other. And we shared the political passion for feminism as an oppositional project. I owe a great deal to Sarah’s friendship and her critical intellectual and political wit. From the Women’s Studies staff, I wish to thank Trude Oorschot for always being on the other side of the line, whether phone or email, and coming to my help whenever needed. This study was deeply influenced by writings of Sandro Mezzadra and Julia O’Connell Davidson. Their work on migration, labour and sex work was a source of constant inspiration that allowed me to develop my theoretical and methodological tools. I was extremely lucky to have them as close and careful readers of my work. Sandro Mezzadra read all of my chapters when still in the draft form and understood, way before I did, where my PhD was going and what I was trying to say. Whether staying in Bologna, Buenos Aires or New York, he always made time to answer my inquiries and discuss my thoughts. In the midst of political meetings in Paris and Belgrade, he generously made space to meet me, and comment on the rewritten version of my chapter on migration and globalization. If it were not for his guidance, parts of this dissertation would still be inside me, wrestling to be released. Julia O’Connell Davidson helped me to make sense of prostitution. Her comments on the previous version of Chapter 3, and the bibliographical indications she gave me were crucial in guiding me through the feminist debate on prostitution. I owe great affection to Julia O’Connell Davidson for coming to my intellectual rescue when I was out and nearly down. Her encouragement and support helped me to carry on in the final stage of the dissertation. Many other people have followed this dissertation and helped me to develop my ideas. I would like to thank Elspeth Guild and Nirmal Puwar for having read part of the manuscript and provided insightful comments. I wish also to thank scholars with whom I discussed my ideas at various stages of this dissertation, in particular Joanna Regulska, Avtar Brah, Marina Calloni and Bridget Anderson. I profited iii greatly from the four months period I spent as a visiting scholar at International Women’s University (ifu) in Hanover in 2000. Being part of the Project Area Migration, and leading the working group on ‘Trafficking in women’ helped me to develop my ideas at the initial stage of the PhD. I am also thankful for the invitations to present parts of this dissertation in various academic and artistic settings, and for the comments I received at Faculty of Communication Sciences, Genua University in 2000; NOISE European Summer School in Women’s Studies in 2001 and 2002; Seminar Beyond Contract? Borders, Bodies and Bonds, University of Oxford in 2002; ‘EuroSummit’ Conference at City of Women Festival, Ljubljana in 2002; NEWR Workshop on Trafficking, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, University of Amsterdam in 2003; and Faculty of Political Sciences, Bologna University in 2004. I received support from different institutions in various stages of this project: Open Society Institute financed the beginning years of this dissertation and Onderzoeksinstituut Geschiedenis en Cultuur the last ones. When at one point, in the midst of my dissertation, I was without funding, Paul Herfs from Utrecht University’s International Relations Office took it upon himself to help me. I thank him for getting me the subsidies from Karel Frederik Stichting and Stichting Internationale Informatie en Communicatie. The grant I received from DAAD was crucial for my research in Germany. I also wish to thank OGC PhD coordinators Martine de Vos and Yolanda Rodriguez for their support and encouragement. Many people from close and far jumped in when needed. I thank Simona and Paolo in Bologna for hosting me during my fieldwork; in Utrecht Chunghan took care of me while I was writing; I am grateful to everyone who helped in transcription of the interviews doing it for small money or for free; in particular I want to thank Tania Suspitsina in Ann Arbour who transcribed and translated the interview I conducted in Russian; I thank Sara Ahmed for coming to my help when libraries failed and for sending me as attachments all of her essays I needed for Chapter 5; when I had no access to the university library Ingrid Hoofd from far away Singapore downloaded the essays I needed and sent them via email; I am immensely thankful to all the friends who put time and energy into correcting my English and in particular to Diana Anders in Berkeley, Elena Basile in Toronto, Jennifer Petzen and Carla MacDougall in Berlin, Rebecca Nash in London, and Dont Rhine in LA. I also want to thank Manuela Bojadzijev from Kanak Attak and Julia Carrington from Open Society Justice Initiative for letting me take time off from the research projects we are working on together so that I could finish this dissertation. I started the writing process two years ago when I moved to Berlin. In Berlin I met a bunch of wonderful and special people who shared political and scholarly engagement with me, encouraged my work, and took care of me while I was writing. Most importantly, they make me dance and made me laugh. Of late, their favourite remark was: ‘Finish that damn thing!’ For all-around the clock support I thank the Kreuzberg posse, and in particular Esra Erdem, Berenice Hernandez Hernandez, Carma Lüdtke, Heike Pisch, Tülin Duman, Fatma Tut, Eva Reichelt, PG Macioti and Kate. We all danced together to the music of Seda Guerses, Branka Letic, Neset Özevin, and Ipek Ipekcioglu. Thank you all. You make Kreuzberg such a special and precious place for me. You gave me a ‘community’ and a ‘home’. In Utrecht, Dragana Okolic and Felix Bettonvil were my ‘home’. They opened their house to me and let me know that they are ‘there’, always. There is no greater gift. My parents and my brother back in Rijeka were of immense emotional support during all of these years. They are my true fortune. iv The last person to be mentioned in the acknowledgments tends, more often than not, to be the one you wanted to mention first. Bettina Knaup was there for me in the most difficult periods, always making them bearable. Her care, her sense for beauty, and her love for good food brought me great joy. For her constant encouragement and trust in my abilities, I am immensely thankful. Rutvica Andrijasevic Utrecht, 26 August 2004 v Table of Contents Acknowledgments iii I Introduction: Issues and Perspectives Developing a Methodology 12 Fieldwork Considerations and Interviews 16 Characteristics of the sample 21 The Organization of the Dissertation 23 II Projects of Autonomy as Projects of Migration 1. Introduction 25 2. Trafficking Systems 27 Migratory Histories 28 Channels of Recruitment into Trafficking 30 Problematizing the Notion of Deception 36 3.
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