Name: Arlo Scherr

Social Justice Group: International Workers Rights

Date of Fieldwork: February 10, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Meredith Dank

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On Thursday, February 10th our group met with Meredith Dank. Meredith is a research professor at NYU, she specializes in commercial sex economy, human trafficking, teen dating violence, and LGBTQ issues. We talked to her about the work she does overseas and the labor issues she fights for. She talks with human traffickers and supports victims of human trafficking in other countries.

She told us about the people she met overseas and was saddened when she couldn’t help people in a horrible situation. She also talked about the dangers of being a “hero” and attempting to save people who are being trafficked, because most of the time dangerous missions can backfire and make life worse for victims of human trafficking. She relies on people to live out their horrible contracts, or escape from bad trafficking conditions in order to conduct her research and teach more about the topic. Her work is very important in solving this problem because if people aren’t educated well enough, they aren’t informed about the topic which allows it to go unnoticed.

I really felt for Meredith when she had to make the tough decisions to leave people who are in horrible situations and will most likely go back into the human trafficking system. I was shocked when I learned that people some people she talked to are so desperate that they will reenter the horrible working conditions they endure just to get a very small amount of money. Her experience opened my eyes and gave me a professional view of the issue, I am excited to continue fieldwork and learn more about our topic.