Between Victim and Agent: A Third-Way Feminist Account of Trafficking for Sex Work

Feminist legal theorists have devoted enormous attention to conceptualizing the issues of sex work and trafficking for sexual purposes. While these theories vary, they typically fall into one of two camps. The abolitionist perspective, having grown out of dominance feminist theory, perceives sex work as inherently exploitative. In contrast, a second group of theorists adopts a liberal notion of individual choice and draws on the poststructuralist rejection of gender essentialism to envision a theoretical model of sex-worker rights. The legal and public policies that grow from these two models are similarly polarized. Radical feminist abolitionists are often strange bedfellows with evangelical Christian organizations, working to end all sex work by rescuing women, regardless of any individual volition exercised in choosing the profession. On the other hand, organizations focused on sex-worker rights seek to help sex workers take care of themselves without fully questioning the social circumstances that lead women to make such a choice. This Article proposes a new theoretical model of trafficking for sexual purposes: a third-way feminist account of sex trafficking. Leveraging the feminist literature on constrained autonomy, the author draws on her own experience working with trafficked African and Asian populations to offer this new approach. This model relies on the dominance feminist critique of social conditions generative of women’s economic desperation, which often underlies women’s choice to engage in sexual labor. At the same time, the author rejects gender essentialism and endorses a liberal notion of the individual woman as an actor with real, though constrained, personal autonomy. Having explored this theoretical model, the Article identifies a series of interventions in trafficking for sexual purposes that recognize the individual and her personal resources while ultimately seeking to further her own autonomy. In proposing these interventions, this Article directly offers a vision of how feminist legal theory can work to alleviate poverty and other social barriers that third-world women encounter in trying to support themselves and their families. Finally, the Article closes with a consideration of the relationship between the author’s proposed third-way feminist model and the international development literature on the capabilities approach. The interventions that arise from this thirdway conception of feminist theory complement the capabilities model of development, as both seek to broaden the individual’s life options in pursuit of a more robust individual agency

Grounding Land Reform: Toward a Market-Compatible Approach to Land Reform

(Excerpt) This Article begins the project of constructing a unified account of land reform. This model consists of two central aspects. First, it articulates a set of goals, both practical and expressive, that redistributive land reform efforts can forward. Second, it offers a pragmatic theory of land reform, one that simultaneously achieves the progressive, poverty-eradication goals of land reform proponents and satisfies neoliberal demand for stable land markets. In this regard, the project offers a fresh way of thinking of the intractable conflict in land reform policy: how to redistribute land without destabilizing the nation. In addressing this problem, the Article brings a conversation about land reform that primarily exists in development studies into the legal literature and informs that discussion with legal insights. This Article proceeds in three parts. Part I briefly defines what redistributive land reform is before moving on to identify and discuss land reform’s pragmatic and expressive goals. Part II takes on the controversial problem of redistribution. It differentiates between expropriation-based models of land reform and market-compatible models, explains how expropriation can undermine development goals, and reveals how market-compatible approaches maintain the economic stability needed for meaningful development. Part III fleshes out how land reform programs operate, distinguishing among different land reform strategies. The Article concludes by observing that while market-compatible land reform makes good sense, both logically and theoretically, it will rise or fall based on whether enough land is made available to address the problem of rural poverty; it calls upon legal scholars of many doctrines to help shape policies and laws that support robust land reform initiatives

Grounding Land Reform: Toward a Market-Compatible Approach to Land Reform

(Excerpt) This Article begins the project of constructing a unified account of land reform. This model consists of two central aspects. First, it articulates a set of goals, both practical and expressive, that redistributive land reform efforts can forward. Second, it offers a pragmatic theory of land reform, one that simultaneously achieves the progressive, poverty-eradication goals of land reform proponents and satisfies neoliberal demand for stable land markets. In this regard, the project offers a fresh way of thinking of the intractable conflict in land reform policy: how to redistribute land without destabilizing the nation. In addressing this problem, the Article brings a conversation about land reform that primarily exists in development studies into the legal literature and informs that discussion with legal insights. This Article proceeds in three parts. Part I briefly defines what redistributive land reform is before moving on to identify and discuss land reform’s pragmatic and expressive goals. Part II takes on the controversial problem of redistribution. It differentiates between expropriation-based models of land reform and market-compatible models, explains how expropriation can undermine development goals, and reveals how market-compatible approaches maintain the economic stability needed for meaningful development. Part III fleshes out how land reform programs operate, distinguishing among different land reform strategies. The Article concludes by observing that while market-compatible land reform makes good sense, both logically and theoretically, it will rise or fall based on whether enough land is made available to address the problem of rural poverty; it calls upon legal scholars of many doctrines to help shape policies and laws that support robust land reform initiatives

What\u27s Next: Into a Third Decade of LatCrit Theory, Community, and Praxis

In this multi-vocal Afterword, we reflect-personally and collectively to help chart renewed agendas toward and through a third decade of LatCrit theory, community, and praxis. This personal collective exercise illustrates and reconsiders the functions, guideposts, values, and postulates for our shared programmatic work a framework for our daily work as individuals and teams through our portfolio of projects, which in turn emerged as a reflection and projection of LatCrit theory, community and praxis. These early anchors expressly encompassed (1) a call to recognize and accept the inevitable political nature of U.S. legal scholarship; (2) a concomitant call toward anti-subordination praxis to connect theory to action; (3) a commitment to build both intra-Latinx communities and inter-group coalitions; (4) a commitment to find commonalities while respecting difference; (5) a recognition of past critical outsider scholarship in new applications; (6) a commitment to ongoing self-critique, individually and collectively; and (7) a recognition of specificity and diversity in constructing LatCrit theory, praxis, and community. These early guiding commitments were rooted in substantive values, and accompanied by working postulates, that we likewise made explicit to help anchor our programmatic initiatives, and our mutual aspirations, over time and its exigencies

Afterword: What\u27s Next? Into a Third Decade of Latcrit Theory, Community, and Praxis

In this multi-vocal Afterword, we reflect-personally and collectively to help chart renewed agendas toward and through a third decade of LatCrit theory, community, and praxis. This personal collective exercise illustrates and reconsiders the functions, guideposts, values, and postulates for our shared programmatic work a framework for our daily work as individuals and teams through our portfolio of projects, which in turn emerged as a reflection and projection of LatCrit theory, community and praxis. These early anchors expressly encompassed (1) a call to recognize and accept the inevitable political nature of U.S. legal scholarship; (2) a concomitant call toward anti-subordination praxis to connect theory to action; (3) a commitment to build both intra-Latinx communities and inter-group coalitions; (4) a commitment to find commonalities while respecting difference; (5) a recognition of past critical outsider scholarship in new applications; (6) a commitment to ongoing self-critique, individually and collectively; and (7) a recognition of specificity and diversity in constructing LatCrit theory, praxis, and community. These early guiding commitments were rooted in substantive values, and accompanied by working postulates, that we likewise made explicit to help anchor our programmatic initiatives, and our mutual aspirations, over time and its exigencies

Afterword: What\u27s Next? Into a Third Decade of Latcrit Theory, Community, and Praxis

In this multi-vocal Afterword, we reflect-personally and collectively to help chart renewed agendas toward and through a third decade of LatCrit theory, community, and praxis. This personal collective exercise illustrates and reconsiders the functions, guideposts, values, and postulates for our shared programmatic work a framework for our daily work as individuals and teams through our portfolio of projects, which in turn emerged as a reflection and projection of LatCrit theory, community and praxis. These early anchors expressly encompassed (1) a call to recognize and accept the inevitable political nature of U.S. legal scholarship; (2) a concomitant call toward anti-subordination praxis to connect theory to action; (3) a commitment to build both intra-Latinx communities and inter-group coalitions; (4) a commitment to find commonalities while respecting difference; (5) a recognition of past critical outsider scholarship in new applications; (6) a commitment to ongoing self-critique, individually and collectively; and (7) a recognition of specificity and diversity in constructing LatCrit theory, praxis, and community. These early guiding commitments were rooted in substantive values, and accompanied by working postulates, that we likewise made explicit to help anchor our programmatic initiatives, and our mutual aspirations, over time and its exigencies