"What Do Slaveholders Think?" by Prof. Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick featured on Aeon.co

"What Do Slaveholders Think?" by Prof. Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick featured on Aeon.co

Labourers in Vidharbha region in Maharashtra, India. Photo by Sanjit Das/PanosLabourers in Vidharbha region in Maharashtra, India. Photo by Sanjit Das/Panos

Prof. Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick and his new book What Do Slaveholders Think has been making a major impact on the way people view human trafficking since it's recent release. He has been featured in several publications and more recently, on Aeon.co

I liked Aanan as soon as I met him. My field notes read: ‘What a nice guy, you can just see from his face.’ Open-faced and conversational, he was enthusiastic about the explosive growth in his quarry operations and excited to show me around. Together, we toured the open mines where his workers carve into the earth, producing boulders that are broken down into gravel by smaller labourers, often women and children. Together with his workers, Aanan laughed at my efforts to repeat the process for myself, the sledge held high over my head before arcing down, momentarily disappearing into shards and dust.

He showed me the crushing equipment that transformed gravel into silica powder, proudly explaining that the Indian multinational company, Tata, which makes generous donations to Harvard’s renowned business school, was the exclusive buyer of his materials. I had met Aanan through a friend of his, a reference that considerably eased his concerns about speaking with an outsider regarding his operations. The fact that I was most interested in challenging bonded labour – a contemporary form of slavery – didn’t matter.

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