Writing and Critical Thinking: Human Trafficking and Labour Migration

Introduction

Introduction

Different parts of the world are becoming increasingly interdependent today through the increased flow of goods, services, capital and labour.  In this course, we will examine two closely related phenomena which both promote and are promoted by this interdependence, that is, human trafficking and low-skilled labour migration.  While human trafficking involves the movement of people from one place to another through illegal means for the purpose of exploitation, the latter refers to the voluntary movement of labourers for job-seeking reasons.  Despite the differences between both processes, children, women and men from the less developing countries are often caught at the centre of these global currents.

By the end of the semester, students should be able to:

  • identify three to four basic factors which have contributed to both human trafficking and low-skilled labour migration

  • explain what it means to offer a structural account of injustice, and evaluate in what ways this account may be relevant in analyzing human trafficking and low-skilled labour migration

  • identify two to three scholarly views about what to do with low-skilled labour migration, explain their strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate their relevance for the local migrant labour regime.

The syllabus is divided into two units. While the first unit introduces students to forms of human trafficking and relevant classic theories in examining labour exploitation, the second unit turns to low-skilled labour migration and explores debates among scholars concerning what should be done about them.

Skill Objectives

The primary objective of this course is to develop our skills in writing academic arguments. A good academic argument, however, very often begins with a careful reading of and exciting intellectual exchanges about source texts. Hence, we will make use of a variety of source texts as our starting point. Students are required to do the readings in advance, and actively engage in class discussions about them. In addition to enabling us to understand source texts, class discussions give us the opportunity to practice the skills that we need in argumentative writing, for example, skills in formulating and defending an interesting thesis, critically analyzing passages, effectively addressing counter-arguments, and logically structuring multiple strands of argument. Students will also be required to peer-review one another’s written work, so that they will in turn improve in diagnosing problems in their own essays and in coming up with fixes for those problems.


Structure of Writing Assignments

Students are required to write two argumentative papers, the first one to be due in Week 7, and the second in Week 14. Students write their first paper on the materials that they read and discuss in class. In their second paper, students have to do their own research on a topic of their own choice.

Schedule of Reading and Writing Assignments

(This is a tentative schedule only. The actual schedule will be uploaded and updated on LumiNUS.)

Unit 1 Human Trafficking

Week 1 Class 2 Introduction

Week 2 Class 1 Forced Labour at Sea

Week 2 Class 2 Forced Sex Labour

  • Kara, “India and Nepal,” pp.45-82

Week 3 Class 1 Marx on Exploitation

  • Marx’s “Wage Labour and Capital,” pp.203-217

Week 3 Class 2 Marx on Exploitation

  • Marx’s “Wage Labour and Capital,” pp.203-217

Week 4 Class 1 Utilitarianism

  • Shafer-Landau, “Consequentialism”, pp.117-153

Week 4 Class 2 Paper 1 Thesis and Outline Workshop

  • Sample Papers on folio (please bring your laptop or tablet)
  • Booth, The Craft of Research, Chapter 7, pp.108-112 (please skim; no need to print)
  • Booth, The Craft of Research, Chapter 13, pp.188-195 (please skim; no need to print)
  • Please bring your thesis and a brief outline to class (400 words), as well as your laptop.

Paper 1 Outline (400 words) due Saturday.  

Week 5 Class 1 Paper 1 Revised Outline workshop

  • Please bring your outline or incomplete draft (800-1200 words).

 Week 5 Class 2  Paper 1 Revised Outline and Introduction workshop

  • Please bring your outline or incomplete draft (1200-1500 words).
  • Booth, The Craft of Research, Chapter 14, pp.203-212 (please skim; no need to print)

Paper 1 First Draft (1500 words) due Saturday.

Week 6 Paper 1 Draft Conferences

  • No class; one-on-one conferences

 

Recess (Paper 1 Final Draft due during Recess Week)

Unit 2 Low-skilled Labour Migration

Week 7 Class 1 Utilitarian Arguments for Labor Mobility and Poverty Alleviation

  • Prichett, Let Their People Come, pp.82-86
  • Prichett, “The Least You Can Do for Global Poverty Is Better than the Best You Can Do” (blog post)
  • Powell, “An Economic Case for Immigration” (blog post)

Week 7 Class 2 Two Theories of Justice

  • Walzer, “Guest Workers,” pp. 56-61
  • Young, “From Guilt to Solidarity,” pp.39-44

Week 8 Class 1 Care Worker Migration

  • Eikenwiler, “Care Worker Migration and Transnational Justice,” 171-83

Week 8 Class 2 Migrant Workers and Rights

  • Stilz, “Guestworkers and second-class citizenship,” 295-307

Week 9 Class 1 Migrant Domestic Workers and Socio-Economic Inequality

  • Teo, “Foreigners in Our Homes,” 147-159

Week 9 Class 2 Construction Workers

  • Baey and Yeoh, “The Lottery of My Life”

Week 10 Class 1 Special Event

  • A guest-speaker will come if it can be arranged, either in the evening or within class time.  If the event takes place in the evening, then this class OR another will be cancelled.

Week 10 Class 2 Paper 2 Proposal Workshop

    Week 11 Class 1 Paper 2 Outline Workshop

    Week 11 Class 2 Paper 2 Draft Workshop

    Paper 2 first draft due on Friday

    Week 12 Class 1 Paper Conferences

    Week 12 Class 2 Paper Conferences

    Week 13 Class 1 Workshop on the public opinion piece

    Week 13 Class 2 Workshop on the public opinion piece

    Requirements

      1. Long Papers (65%): Students are required to write two papers, each of which requires one first draft and one revised final draft. The instructor will hold conferences with individual students on their first draft. Students cannot pass an assignment if they do not hand in the first drafts. First drafts and final papers are due on the dates noted, and no late submissions are accepted. The breakdown is as follows:
        • Paper 1 Final Draft (25%)
        • Paper 2 First Draft (5%)
        • Paper 2 Final Draft (35%)
      2. Class Participation (15%): Students are responsible for preparing texts assigned for discussion.
      3. Short Paper (10%): Students are required to write one very short paper assessing the strengths and weaknesses of one article that we will be reading in the second half of the semester. Students have to present to the class what they have argued for in this short paper.
      4. Public Opinion Piece (10%): Students need to write a message intended for the general public.

    Additional Notes

    If you have any questions at any point in the semester, please feel free to come see me or email me. Please be precise and concise in your email, and give me twenty-four hours to respond. If you would like to speak with me in person, please write to me and make an appointment in advance. Do not just stop by. I may not be in my office.

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