Paper short abstract:

The paper addresses the mechanisms and uses of knowledge, secrets and uncertainties in the field of human trafficking, exploring the maneuvering spaces, possible identities and quests for reality arising from the navigation of these knowledge spheres.

Paper long abstract:

Based on fieldwork with young Romanians who are trafficked into prostitution and forced labour in Italy, this paper elucidates the effects and uses of knowledge, secrets, awareness and uncertainties in the field of human trafficking. Inspired by Georg Simmel's (1906) writings on secrecy and relations, I explore how these different knowledge spheres at play create situations and relations of disquiet, avoidance and unrest for the young Romanians and their social surroundings - and their traffickers. The production of secrets, however, also creates a platform of control that serves to separate and tie people together, allowing them to deal with uncertainties and anxieties - both the young Romanians and the traffickers in their business operations. Secrets and uncertainties thus open up for several maneuvering spaces and identities in the field of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a field loaded with powerful knowledge that can be used, accessed, generated, denied, forgotten or accentuated in various quests for reality. Such knowledge includes awareness or suspicion of what awaits the trafficked person in the destination country, information about international crime, memories of past acts that were experienced as traumatic and are considered shameful, attentiveness to the 'correct' trafficking story and to other people's movements as 'victims' or 'traffickers'. The navigation of knowledge and (un)certainty can thus in very concrete ways open and close doors for the young Romanians with regard to the creation of a life after trafficking, access to residence permits, entrance into illegal activities or the engagement in family and other close ties.