Human Trafficking: Why Now?
Over the past two decades, human trafficking has shifted from a marginally recognized international issue to a central and urgent one. The issue of trafficking, however, is not new. Why do social problems enter the global arena when they do? Drawing from over 300 UN documents, archives and personal accounts, this project compares the success of the 2000 UN Trafficking Protocol to the failure of a similar one in 1949. Status: Paper and book proposals in preparation.
*Award winner: Best Graduate Student Paper, Global & Transnational Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, 2017
International Human Trafficking Law in Action: Cambodia & the US
Highlighting culture and meaning rather than rational or functional action, this project examines how new global paradigms around contemporary human trafficking legislation orient ground-level solutions. Drawing from UN, government and NGO archival records and interviews, I compare and contrast how international counter-trafficking law is “translated” into local solutions and practice in two very different contexts: the United States and in Cambodia. Status: Data collection and analysis ongoing, with one paper on Cambodia in progress.
Longitudinal Factors Contributing to Violence & Re-Exploitation Among Previously Trafficked Persons in Cambodia w/Chab Dai Coalition
Drawing from longitudinal interview data with survivors of commercial sexual exploitation in Cambodia, this study uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine multiple conditions associated with trafficking and exploitation (e.g., poverty, debt, low eduction, filial piety) to understand what combinations of these conditions are associated with re-exploitation after trafficking survivors have reintegrated and returned home. Status: Data analysis and multiple papers in progress.
Detention Research Project in collaboration w/Rocio Rosales
What economic, social, and health impacts do immigrant detention and deportation have on individuals and their families? This ongoing qualitative research project aims to understand the experiences of individuals being held in California detention facilities. Status: Analysis ongoing; co-authored paper under review.
Storytelling for Advocacy in collaboration w/Francesca Polletta
Ongoing qualitative research project examining how advocates, social movements and professional consultants utilize personal storytelling to pursue social change. Participants in the study advocate for/against multiple social issues (e.g., abortion, marriage equality, homelessness, human rights) and in multiple contexts (e.g., the US, Southeast Asia, Africa). Status: Article forthcoming in Mobilization.
Law in Computation, in collaboration w/Bill Maurer, Mona Lynch, Evan Conaway, John Emery, Noopur Raval, Christopher Jay Bates and Stephen Rea
With support from the National Science Foundation’s EAGER Program to support transformative research in its early stages, UCI’s Technology, Law & Society Institute explores scholarly intersections between law, practice and technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, new media, and blockchain. As a fellow of the Institute, I work with emerging and advanced scholars to consider how new technologies and data analytics pose new opportunities for the re-imagination of law and social science research. Specifically, I study global initiatives intended to improve international human rights using blockchain, “big data,” social media and algorithmic processes. Status: Co-authored paper under review.
Last updated March 2020