MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale
MacMillan Center

The Gilder Lehrman Center announces Modern Slavery Working Group and short film debut

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, part of the MacMillan Center at Yale University, is pleased to announce the progress of its Modern Slavery Working Group, established in October, 2016. This scholarly community connects leading scholars based in the humanities and the social sciences to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and expand knowledge regarding contemporary forced labor worldwide. In addition to the Working Group, other Gilder Lehrman Center (GLC) endeavors focused on modern slavery and human trafficking include year-long teaching and research fellowships, public programs, and media productions. These initiatives are made possible by generous support from the Robina Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Working Group provides a platform for interaction for an international group of scholars drawn from several academic disciplines: political science, history, rhetoric and literature, sociology, law, and business. The co-chairs of the group are Genevieve LeBaron, University of Sheffield, U.K., and Jessica Pliley, Texas State University. Working Group members include: GLC Director David W. Blight, Yale University; Jean Allain, Monash University, Australia; Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham, U.K.; Janie Chuang, American University; Andrew Crane, University of Bath, U.K.; Grace Peña Delgado, University of California-Santa Cruz; Anna Mae Duane, University of Connecticut; Gunther Peck, Duke University; Joel Quirk, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; Jennifer J. Rosenbaum, Independent Consultant on labor and migration; Elena Shih, Brown University; and Zoe Trodd, University of Nottingham, U.K. More information on the Working Group goals and members is available here: https://glc.yale.edu/ModernSlavery/WorkingGroup

The goals of the Working Group are to promote intellectual exchange between existing projects and provide fertile ground to undertake new collaborations. Two meetings were convened at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 2017 and a third meeting is scheduled for April 20-21, 2018.

The capstone project of this research community is an edited volume, in preparation, featuring chapters authored by Working Group members. The book will analyze effective strategies for fighting the global problems of modern slavery and trafficking.

Tangible outcomes produced by the GLC Modern Slavery Working Group meetings include a short film about forced labor in global supply chains, featuring the research of co-chair Genevieve LeBaron. The ten-minute film is titled “Forced Labor and Workers’ Rights. ” Along with other media resources, the film can be viewed here: https://glc.yale.edu/ModernSlavery/WorkingGroup/DigitalResources

Other outcomes of the Working Group include a series of podcast conversations between paired members of the scholarly network. The first set of these paired podcasts feature conversations between: Genevieve LeBaron and Kevin Bales, Jessica Pliley and Zoe Trodd, and Anna Mae Duane and Jean Allain. These audio conversations are part of the Gilder Lehrman Center’s podcast series, “Slavery and Its Legacies,” which can be accessed here: https://glc.yale.edu/SlaveryanditsLegacies/episodes

An additional outcome of the Modern Slavery Working Group involves the planning of the 20th Annual Gilder Lehrman Center Conference. Scheduled for November 2-3, 2018 at Yale University in New Haven, the conference is free and open to the public. Titled “Fighting Modern Slavery: What Works?”, the conference will provide a forum for an international group of scholars and practitioners to reflect on their research and discuss their work with the community at large. Conference panels will focus on five key areas in the struggle against contemporary forced labor: representations of exploitation and freedom, legislation and policing, mobilizing civil and worker action, market-based solutions, and race and the aftermaths of slavery.

The conference also marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Gilder Lehrman Center. A keynote lecture on the afternoon of Thursday, November 1, 2018, will be followed by a reception to celebrate the Center’s past and look forward to its future.

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, which is supported by the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, was launched in November 1998 through a generous donation by philanthropists Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Its mission is to advance the study of all aspects of slavery and its destruction across all borders and time. The Center seeks to foster an improved understanding of the role of slavery, slave resistance, abolition, and their legacies in the founding of the modern world by promoting interaction and exchange between scholars, teachers, and public historians through publications, educational outreach, and other programs and events.

For further information on events and programming, visit glc.yale.edu or contact the Center by phone at (203) 432-3339 or e-mail: gilder.lehrman.center@yale.edu.