Human trafficking is a critically important social issue of our times. Did you know there
are more people living in slavery today than in any time in history? In the mid-1800s there were
close to 25 million people living in slavery in the world. Today, estimates are closer to 35
million. Click here for 25 Painfully Disturbing Facts about Human Trafficking. I suspect this will
rattle your senses. I recently heard that the cost of a slave on the world market in the 1800s was
equivalent of $10,000 today. The first fact on this link is that the average cost of a slave today, is
$90-100!
I openly admit I had no idea this was such an extraordinary problem until recently. In
fact, I have come across so much information, that I have decided not to minimize it with my
own summary. Instead I am going to supply you will an extensive set of links where you can
begin to explore this issue yourself. I have tried to develop a broad array of links, to help you
begin to visualize how your areas of study [concentrations/disciplines] could each contribute to a
better understanding of how to address the serious problems of human trafficking.
Video Links
Before you click on the following links I must warn you, some of the information, and
the visuals, are quite disturbing. Please be sure your children, if you have any, or young brothers
or sisters are not nearby when you view these.
This first video is about the problem in Oklahoma City. In 2014, this video was used at
University of Central Oklahoma during a panel discussion on human trafficking.
And finally, Modern Slavery-Human Trafficking.
As you heard often in these videos, the only way to address this problem is to engage in
the solution. One of Repko’s criteria for an interdisciplinary research project is that it is a
pressing social problem, which cannot be addressed from only one discipline. Human trafficking
certainly meets that criteria.
