Preliminary Overview of Conference Schedule

Conference Schedule Outline (updated March 26, 2015)

Highlights of Planned Conference Events

 

Keynote Speech on "The Politics of Sex Trafficking: Key Debates and Feminist Interventions"

Dr. Carrie N. Baker is an Associate Professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender and Director of the Archives Concentration at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Professor Baker teaches courses on gender, law and public policy, including topical courses on sex trafficking, sexual harassment, and reproductive justice. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University and an M.A., J.D. and Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from Emory University. She was Editor in Chief of the Emory Law Journal while in law school and later served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Marvin Shoob in Atlanta, Georgia. Before coming to Smith, she was on the faculty of Berry College in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, teaching sociology, women's studies and legal studies courses.

Her primary areas of research are women’s legal history, gender and public policy, and women’s social movements. Baker’s work has been published in Feminist Studies, Women in Politics, The Journal of Women's History, NWSA Journal, Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Meridians, Journal of Law and Inequality, Emory Law Journal and the online journal Women and Social Movements in the United States. Her book The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment was published by Cambridge University Press in 2008 and won the National Women's Studies Association 2008 Sara A. Whaley book prize. Her current research is on sex trafficking. Baker also writes for Ms. Magazine and is on the Ms. Committee of Scholars. Her feature article on domestic minor sex trafficking appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of Ms. magazine and won the Jane Velez-Mitchell Journalism Award. She is currently the chair of the Law and Public Policy Interest Group of the National Women's Studies Association, and has previously served as Parlimentarian of that organization.

  

Training to Combat Human Trafficking Workshop

Trafficking in persons — also known as "human trafficking" — is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims have been trafficked in both rural and urban areas of the United States. Viewed as valuable commodities in the sex trade or labor industry, vulnerable individuals are targeted by traffickers poised to exploit their desperation, misfortune, or ignorance. They may fall victim to false promises of employment opportunities and a better life, or they may be abducted or sold outright by families who themselves are in need of money or hope to provide a better life for their children. This presentation will discuss definitions, statutes and laws related to human trafficking, and community responses to trafficking in our area. The workshop will be run by a local community partner organization, the Human Trafficking Coalition of the Palm Beaches (www.HTCPB.org) with speakers Tanya Meade and Special Agent Jon Longo. 

 

Plenary Speech on "Human Trafficking: Understanding the Victim's Perspective"

Katariina Rosenblatt has a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution and works closely with law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and Homeland Security, to eliminate human slavery. Her own experience as a survivor inspired her to create There Is Hope for Me (http://www.thereishopeforme.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing other victims of human trafficking. Dr. Rosenblattis also a volunteer with the Ad Hoc Committee for Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking for the State of Florida and has published a memoir, Stolen: The True Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor (2014), with Baker Books. 

 

Film Screening 

Just Gender (short version, 22 minutes)

Director: George Zuber (BuddhaDogProductions@me.com)

Q&A Moderator: Peter Cava, Doctoral Dissertation Fellow in FAU’s Public Intellectuals Program

IMDB summary: Just Gender tackles the little understood world of transgender people. Although Just Gender utilizes some archival footage and stills, it is largely built on a series of interviews of transgendered persons, their family members and friends, health care experts, community leaders and others who work with the transgender community. The film explores the common myths and misunderstandings about transgendered people. It also explores the confusion between sexual orientation and gender identity, as reflected in the rigid binary view of the world generally held by society. Just Gender also touches on the discrimination, hardships and brutality resulting from those misconceptions and prejudices, including the numerous deaths caused by hate each year.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2803298/