Circulations in shadow corridors

Abstract

The Northern Bay of Bengal has a legacy of human trafficking from at least the seventeenth century. It has left its footprint in the popular culture of Bengal. Today, human trafficking is still running very high but is almost invisible. This invisibility thrives on the pre-modern sea transportation system being unrecorded and considered as part of the informal economy. In turn, this invisibility facilitates the luring of job seekers by middlemen and slavery across the Bay towards Thailand. The dramatic situation of the Rohingya in the Arakan State in Myanmar and the instability at the border with Bangladesh strengthen the trafficking network along unsettling borders.