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/lp/berghahn-books/migration-empire-and-liminality-sex-trade-in-the-borderlands-of-europe-oYlmOriQeM
- Publisher
- Berghahn Books
- Copyright
- © 2022 Berghahn Books
- ISSN
- 1933-2882
- eISSN
- 1933-2890
- DOI
- 10.3167/asp.2017.110105
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
In this article I analyze accounts from police and women’s activist documents from the turn of the twentieth century, which present narratives of sex trafficking in and from Galicia, an eastern borderland region of the Habsburg Empire. Both police and activist accounts underscore the image of innocent women forced into prostitution, although police accounts provide more variety and nuance regarding degrees of coercion and agency demonstrated by women. I examine what such narratives reveal about the role of crossing boundaries—an act central to both sex trafficking and efforts to maintain empire. In this context, I consider how the Habsburg authorities coped with and attempted to manage populations whose mobility appeared especially problematic. Although this research draws extensively from historical archives, my analysis is guided by perspectives from folklore studies and the anthropological concept of liminality.
Journal
Aspasia – Berghahn Books
Published: Mar 1, 2017
Keywords: borderlands; Galicia; Habsburg Empire; Jewish migration; liminality; prostitution; sex trafficking; women’s activists