Sex Work and Political Subjectivity with Simanti Dasgupta

This episode was originally recorded during a live webinar event that occurred on February 23, 2022. In the presentation, Simanti Dasgupta discusses her research with Durbar, a grassroots sex workers’ collective in Sonagachi, the iconic red-light district in Kolkata. Simanti offers an overview of her broader project about the emergence of sex work subjectivity, followed by a critical examination of anti-trafficking work and its tendency to frame sex workers in terms of “rehabilitation” and “victimhood.” Currently a Research Fellow at IIAS, Simanti Dasgupta is associate professor of anthropology and director of the International Studies Program at the University of Dayton, USA. You can view video recordings of IIAS webinars on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/asianstudies.