Public lecture: Constructing Modern Slavery: Law, Capitalism and Unfree Labour

Public lecture: Constructing Modern Slavery: Law, Capitalism and Unfree Labour, Judy Fudge, McMaster University.

Modern slavery is an amalgam of legal concepts defined in international law united by a shared characteristic—they are all forms of unfree labour: one person deprives another person of their freedom for profit. Instead of being a solution to the problem of unfree labour, modern slavery laws divert attention from the underlying structures and processes that generate unfreedom. Focusing on international immigration and global supply chains, the book offers a novel socio-legal genealogy of the concept ‘modern slavery’ through a series of linked case studies of influential actors associated with key legal instruments: the United Nations, the United States, the International Labour Organization, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Walk Free Foundation. Constructing Modern Slavery reveals that, despite the best efforts of academics, advocates, and policymakers to develop a multifaceted approach to modern slavery, it is difficult to uncouple antislavery initiatives from conservative moral and economic agendas.

Judy Fudge is a professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University. Judy takes a socio-legal approach to studying labour and is committed to fostering a multi-disciplinary approach to the challenges and opportunities facing workers.  She has worked with women’s groups, legal clinics, trade unions and the International Labour Organization. Her most recent work focuses on labour exploitation, modern slavery and unfree labour in the context of labour migration and global supply chains.

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