Behind closed doors: exposing modern slavery on a global scale: An interview with Kevin Bales, Professor Emeritus at Roehampton University, London, and President of Free the Slaves

Abstract

Purpose

Kevin Bales' work on contemporary slavery has brought this under‐researched field of social enquiry to the attention not only of the academic world but to a wider global audience through his prolific publishing, his film work and not least his presidency of Free the Slaves, the US anti‐slavery organisation. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of his findings and methodologies currently prevailing in this field.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on an interview with Kevin Bales conducted in April 2009 and subsequent discussions with Claire Griffiths.

Findings

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, the book that brought Bales global recognition over a decade ago, reinstated slavery as a key human rights issue on the research agenda for the twenty‐first century. This interview is condensed from a longer discussion between Kevin Bales and Claire Griffiths on researching contemporary slavery. In this conversation they explore the relationship between slavery, trafficking and prostitution, a theme that leads the discussion to the gendered nature of slavery through the centuries. The interview concludes with some indications of where slavery studies research is going in the twenty‐first century.

Originality/value

This paper provides new insights into the emerging and interdisciplinary field of modern slavery studies.

Citation

Griffiths, C. and Bales, K. (2010), "Behind closed doors: exposing modern slavery on a global scale: An interview with Kevin Bales, Professor Emeritus at Roehampton University, London, and President of Free the Slaves", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 29 No. 7, pp. 716-721. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151011074434