Histories of Orphan Trafficking in East Africa and the West

A lecture by Dr Adreana Prichard (University of Oklahoma) for the International History Research Seminar Series.

Andreana Prichard’s current research project follows a single 2015 United States federal criminal case to explore the deeply entangled histories of Western evangelism and orphan trafficking in eastern Africa. Oral histories collected with African narrators for Orphans and Demons: Histories of Orphan Trafficking in East Africa and the West reveal how the institution at the center of the case emerged from longer histories of orphan care, missionary intervention, and Western assumptions about African children and families. Although the federal conviction appears to establish a clear account of guilt, narrators’ accounts expose a more complicated moral landscape in which care and exploitation—and perpetrator and victim—are not always easily disentangled. Through these oral histories, the project asks how deeply held convictions about childhood, salvation, and humanitarian responsibility continue to shape the ethics of contemporary orphanages and missions to orphans, sometimes enabling both genuine care and profound harm.

The Centre for International History draws on the burgeoning insights of scholars in the past few decades that history does not stop at the border of the nation-state.  International history explores comparative approaches and uncovers transnational flows of commerce, politics, culture, and ideas. The Centre's research seminars and public events will display these methods while examining historical developments across the globe especially in the late modern period.

This event is run in accordance with Trinity’s Dignity and Respect policy, and its commitment to nurturing a respectful and inclusive research culture.
Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact:  gearyd@tcd.ie