January 28th - February 1st, 2019

On January 31st, I met with Dr. Laura Dean, for whom I will be an assistant of research, to discuss the course of action the human trafficking research lab would take this semester. This meeting established the topic of study this research lab would pursue and what steps would be taken to accomplish it. However, before settling on a topic, Dr. Dean presented me with an array of potential research topics that we could expand upon throughout the semester. There were four topics: tracking convictions of human trafficking in Illinois, tracking news stories of human trafficking in Illinois, looking for other imprisoned victims, and examining migrant profiles. I utilized my free time over the weekend to research each of these potential topics to give me an idea for what sort of literature existed and what I would envision myself devoting time to. Given my proficiency in Spanish and my interest, I decided on examining migrant profiles would be the best topic for me to direct my efforts towards. Analyzing migrant profiles will be able to offer important insight into how migrants are communicating their sentiments to other migrants choosing to follow in their paths or are contemplating it. With the political climate being centered on immigration, delving into such a topic will be able to illuminate the experiences of migrants as well as how they create networks to enlighten others. Following the establishment of the topic, is the research process which entails looking through the existing literature on the topic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

Image
For the past few weeks, I have been working on sending Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) requests to different counties in central Illinois. By sending these requests, we are hoping to receive the jail bookings and arrest data in these counties over the past twenty years as they relate to human trafficking cases. Though most counties accept a letter of request, some have specific forms they require to be filled out in order to receive the information we require. Thus, I have been doing research on each county to determine not only if they have specific forms required, but to determine which office would best be able to fulfill my request, as each request cannot be sent to the same offices in each county. Most State Attorney’s offices are able to help us with our requests, but not all. For some counties, the Sheriff's office holds this information. So, through trial and error, I have worked to send out these requests to whichever office is best suited to help us. Due to the natur
Read more

Human Trafficking Awareness Month Panel Discussion on Education

Image
We just wrapped up our fifth annual Human Trafficking Awareness Month panel discussion at Millikin University and the event was a huge success. Around 40 students, faculty, staff and community members came out before the big snow storm to learn about the intersections of human trafficking education and training. We hosted Matthew Fuller, Human Trafficking Training Specialist at the Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria, Cindy Kuro, Prevention Educator from the Set Free Movement-Macon County, and Cheris Larson, Program Manager at Project OZ in Bloomington. The panel discussion focused on the educational opportunities, prevailing pedagogies on human trafficking, challenges to teaching about this hidden crime, and how to combat disinformation through learning opportunities. The panel discussion was sponsored by the Set Free Movement-Macon County and the Department History and Political Science at Millikin University. We are thankful for our wonderful advocates and educators in Central
Read more

HTRL Tote Bags

Image
Since our grant is ending this year, the students and I brainstormed a few fundraising ideas to be able to support paid research assistantships in the Human Trafficking Research Lab for future students. We thought tote bags would be a great way to achieve this and so the students and I designed an eye catching bag that would educate people wherever it went. If you donate more $30 to the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin we will send you one of these tote bags that will support future undergraduate research in the lab and help you raise awareness to human trafficking everywhere you go!  The bags are 100% cotton and printed locally from Oakwood Screen Printing based right here in Decatur, Illinois.  If you would like to donate to the Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin University you can make a donation in three different ways: 1) Make a credit card/debit card/EFT gift online at www.millikin.edu/give . Choose the “Millikin Fund” icon box and write “Human Trafficking Resea
Read more