The Human Market: The Global Traffic in Human Beings

The course introduces students to the wide range of cultural and ethical questions surrounding the trade in humans. We consider issues ranging from the traffic in women and children to the trade in human organs. We especially explore the cultural, racial, class, and gender issues inherent in transactions in human beings and their flesh. Who is selling their organs on the international market and why? Whose babies go to whom in international adoption, and who decides what the best interests of the children are? Whose bones are sold to museums and medical schools, and what do such transactions mean?