Lady of the Night School was a two part course that ran for three months between October to December 2021, and again between April to June 2022. Each month we collectively explored a new topic. The focus was less on current legislation and campaigns, and more on how we got to where we are today.

This is an archive of each session in the series. Here you will find recordings, reading lists, audio, and summaries of each section, as well as details of our hosts and where you can find them now.

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Anti Trafficking in the Caribbean (May 2022)

This lecture took a closer look at trends in public discourse, policy and law through the treatment of migrant women in the Caribbean region, especially Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and the challenges they pose to anti-trafficking discourses. Featuring:

• Lecture by Kamala Kempadoo (Tuesday May 3rd, 7pm – 8.30pm)

• Seminar by Emily Kenway (Monday May 9th 6.30pm – 8.30pm)

For many decades in the Caribbean, particular migrant women have been constructed as exotic, erotic subjects, yet are also deemed to be either "loose women" or victims of human trafficking.

Kempadoo discussed her research on sex work and migration, highlighting the over-representation of women of colour in the Dutch and Caribbean sex trades. She noted the racial hierarchy within these industries and critiqued the broad definition of human trafficking, which often includes various forms of labor and migration, and its misuse in political contexts. She emphasised the impact of anti-trafficking policies in the Caribbean, where undocumented migrants are often targeted, and racist and neoliberal capitalist agendas are reinforced.

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Kamala Kempadoo is a Professor in the Department of Social Science at York University, Canada, with appointments in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies, Political Science, Social and Political Thought, and Development Studies. She teaches Black Radical and Black Feminist Thought, Sex Work Studies, Critical Antitrafficking Studies, and Caribbean Studies. Kempadoo has published extensively and speaks internationally on the Caribbean sex trade and global anti-trafficking discourses. She is the author of White Supremacy, Racism and the Coloniality of Anti-Trafficking.

Emily Kenway is a writer, activist and former policy adviser. Her first book, ‘The Truth about Modern Slavery’, has been acclaimed in the Guardian and elsewhere. Her writing has been published by The Guardian, The Independent, Huffington Post, Times Literary Supplement and more. As a speaker, Emily has appeared on most major news channels. She is currently working on her second book, ‘Who Cares’ (working title, Hachette 2023). As of September 2021, she is also a scholar of political science at Edinburgh University.

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Further Reading:

• Jamaica Sex Work Coalition via Global Network of Sex Work Projects: Promoting Health and Human Rights (NSWP)

• Caribbean Sex Work Coaltion (CSWC): Miriam Edwards, founding member of the CSWC, explains the importance of the Red Umbrella Fund for Caribbean sex workers here.

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_{This course is made possible with generous support from the Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.}