Doctoral Dissertation Research: Migration Management in Nigeria

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Brown University doctoral student, Stacey L. Vanderhurst, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel J. Smith, will undertake research on the intertwined phenomena of migration and human trafficking, including how the two may be presented as humanitarian problems, regulated by states, and experienced by the people who move. The researcher will conduct 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Nigeria, a source site for both trafficking and migration. The research will focus on returned trafficking victims, including studying the content of rehabilitation programs, vocational training, and prevention efforts, particularly at shelters fo returned victims, through participant observation, interviews, and textual analysis. She also will use participant observation, interviews and creative writing exercises to explore how women identified as human trafficking victims understand, experience, and navigate these programs. Finally, she will trace the connections between these everyday practices and larger state policies, through key informants with officials, collaborating NGOs, and bilateral sponsor institutions. This research is important because while most social science work on trafficking and migration focuses on destinations, this project will situate the research within the broader social, cultural, and institutional context of the sending nation. Thus, it considers how migration may be managed by a migrant-sending state like Nigeria, as well as how individual migrants navigate those policies. This project also contributes to the education of a social scientist.