After a very long hiatus from my blog I am going to attempt to start writing again on academic topics related to human trafficking and then my own experiences working and researching this issue. Since I last wrote (about a year and a half ago) I finished my fieldwork on human trafficking policy adoption and implementation in Ukraine, Latvia, and Russia. I spent the academic year 2013-2014 writing up the results of this research and successfully defended my dissertation entitled "Beyond the Natasha Effect: Determinants of Human Trafficking Policy Variation in the Post-Soviet Region" sponsored by a Social Science Research Council Eurasia Program Dissertation Development Award Fellowship. I graduated in August 2014 and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Clayton State University. The anti-trafficking movement is very strong in the city and there are a number of organizations working on anti-trafficking issues. The FBI named Atlanta as one of 14 cities in the nation with the highest incidence of children exploited in prostitution. It has also been categorized as a “Human Trafficking Hub” and named one of the Top 5 cities in the US for human trafficking in a number of newspaper articles although I am not sure if this statistic can actually be supported with data. Either way, moving to Atlanta will undoubtedly provide a number of opportunities to engage with and work in the anti-trafficking movement. I already have my students pegged to work with YouthSpark an Atlanta based anti-trafficking organization on two projects in place of writing a final paper. In addition to my anti-trafficking encounters in Atlanta, I also plan to post information and data gathered during my fieldwork in Ukraine, Latvia, and Russia so that this blog can also serve as a digital archive of the documents I gathered during my fieldwork research. Thanks so much for reading and I am looking forward to sharing my insights and work with you all now that I am back stateside.
The meaning of Eastern Exploits is twofold One: A striking or notable deed, feat or adventure Two: to utilize for profit or take advantage. This blog will encompass both of these definitions as I seek to document my travels throughout Eastern Europe and my research on human trafficking in the former Soviet Union.
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