Unveiling The Shadows: Examining Depictions of Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and its Causes in Zura Maids

Authors

  • Daphne Sheilah Ampumuza Bishop Stuart University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59472/jodet.v2i1.39

Keywords:

human trafficking, enslavement, sexual enslavement, victims, prostitution, exploitation

Abstract

An ongoing problem in society and more specifically in Uganda, human trafficking for sexual exploitation takes advantage of helpless people and ruins countless lives. Eunice Atuko's moving book "Zura Maids," explores the sinister and unpleasant world of human trafficking. This abstract examines the novel's depictions of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in detail and looks into the root reasons of this horrible crime.

This study's main goal is to shed light on the complex aspects of human trafficking as they are represented in "Zura Maids." The analysis focuses on the complex web of traffickers and their allies participating in this criminal operation while also examining the psychological, emotional, and physical traumas suffered by the victims. I sought to obtain a greater understanding of the emotional impact these depictions have on readers and their potential to foster empathy and awareness by looking at the storytelling strategies used by Eunice Atuko.

This study also pinpoints and analyzes the underlying factors that contribute to the persistence of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in the novel's setting such as the role of socioeconomic circumstances, gender disparities, a lack of legal protection, and institutional shortcomings in sustaining this abhorrent trade as well as the cultural and historical factors that have shaped the characters' vulnerability, agency, and choices throughout the story are critically addressed.

A close reading and textual analysis of "Zura Maids" is used in this study's qualitative methodology to identify pertinent themes and insights. Secondary sources such as academic research, reports, and pertinent literature are also used to support and strengthen the results.

By offering "Zura Maids" the author intended to add to the corpus of information on the ugly vice, raise awareness and promote productive conversations aimed at ending human trafficking and defending the dignity and everyone’s rights by comprehending the depictions and underlying reasons of this worldwide horror as depicted in the novel.

References

Pointiere, Mathilinde (2021) “Representations of Female Agency in Medieval French Literature” LSU Doctoral Dissertations.5523

Rens SE (2021) Women’s Empowerment, Agency and Self-Determination in Afrobeats Music Videos: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. Fsshoc. 6:646899

Agadjanian, Victor (2002). Men's talk about "women's matters": Gender, communication, and contraception in urban Mozambique. Gender & Society.16:194–215.

Barry, J (2005) Rising Up in Response: Women's Rights Activism in Conflict, Urgent Action Fund

Brown, Lloyd W. (1981) Women Writers in Black Africa. Greenwood Press Annan, J, Blattman, C, Mazurana, D, & Carlson, K. (2011) ‘Civil war, reintegration, and Gender in Northern Uganda’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 55, No 6, 877-908.

Dow, Bonnie J. (2003). "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology". Rhetoric & Public Affairs.

Elaine Showalter (1977).A literature of their own,

"Toward a feminist Poetics"

First Wave Feminism", The Routledge Companion to Feminism and Post-feminism, Routledge, pp.26, retrieved 10 July 2021

Folasade Hunsu (2014). Journal of Social Science for Policy Implications. "Men have been there for too long, let’s have some Space”: Hilda Twongyeirwe Rutagonya on Femrite and Literary Activism in Uganda. American Research Institute for Policy Development.Vol.2,

Florence Stratton. (1994). Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender. Routledge: London Greenwood, Jeremy; Seshadri, Ananth; Yorukoglu, Mehmet (January 2005). "Engines of liberation". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 72 (1): 10

"History of FEMRITE". (10 August 2014) Uganda Women Writers' Association. “FEMRITE Achievements and Milestones". (10 April 2014) Uganda Women Writers' Association.

Jelita, Erviyana. "Second Wave-Feminism in 'The Feminine Mystique Chapter 1: The Problem That Has No Name'".

Mambrol, Nasurullah (28 October 2017). "Second Wave Feminism". Literary Theory and Criticism. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

Mary Karooro Okurut, M.K. (1998). The Invisible Weevil. Kampala: FEMRITE Publications Limited.

"Mary Karooro Okurut: Woman Representative Bushenyi District". (10 April 2014). Parliament of Uganda.

Mambrol, Nasurullah (29 October 2017). "Third Wave Feminism". Literary Theory and Criticism. Retrieved 10 July 2021

Okurut, M.K. (2016). The Switch, Kampala: FEAM Investment Limited.

Downloads

Published

2024-05-21

How to Cite

Ampumuza, D. S. (2024). Unveiling The Shadows: Examining Depictions of Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and its Causes in Zura Maids. Bishop Stuart University Journal of Development, Education & Technology, 2(1), 39–60. https://doi.org/10.59472/jodet.v2i1.39

Issue

Section

Articles

Categories