The designated victim: Representations of human trafficking in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the images of human trafficking presented by the principal anti-trafficking campaigns created by the Brazilian state and some of its most important allies in civil society. We seek to understand how these campaigns represent victims, perpetrators and trafficking itself in their attempts to inculcate in Brazilian society a culture of "resistance to modern slavery". Such a culture has as its most important component the anonymous denunciation of "suspicious people". We present an ideal typography of these images, comparing them to similar images produced in the Western European and North American contexts. We then look at the changes and continuities that appear in the Brazilian images over the years, and analyze some of the specific characteristics of Brazilian campaigns. We conclude with a brief discussion of the possible side effects of campaigns that are based on these kinds of iconography.