Events

Liberation Atlas: Mapping Justice for Asian Massage Workers in New York City || Manufacturing Freedom Book Toast

Image for Liberation Atlas: Mapping Justice for Asian Massage Workers in New York City || Manufacturing Freedom Book Toast

Time: 4:00pm - 6:30pm EST

Sponsor: Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice’s Human Trafficking Research Cluster

Location: Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, 111 Thayer Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912

Room: McKinney Conference Room, Third Floor

Cost: Free

Join the Simmons Center Human Trafficking Research Cluster (HTRC) for the launch of Liberation Atlas, a digital map of the policing of Asian massage work in New York City. A collaborative project between the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice and Red Canary Song (RCS), a grassroots coalition of migrant massage and sex workers in NYC, this map juxtaposes publicly available data of policing (from a range of NYC institutions) with oral histories conducted by RCS’ outreach team. Invited speakers will also contextualize the HTRC’s work in light of RCS and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s recent lawsuit against the NYC Department of Buildings, and the ACLU’s EEOC complaint against the Nevada State Board of Massage Therapy for discrimination against Asian massage workers. 

The event will end with a toast of HTRC Faculty Fellow Professor Elena Shih’s new book, Manufacturing Freedom: Sex Work, Anti-Trafficking Rehab, and the Racial Wages of Rescue (University of California Press), and a reception.

Speakers

Soniya Munshi | Associate Professor of Urban Studies at Queens College
Catherine D’Ignazio | Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning at MIT
AJ Kim | Associate Professor of City Planning at San Diego State University
Lisa | Massage Worker & Outreach Organizer with Red Canary Song
Jane Shim | Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Stop Asian Hate Project
Alejandro Ortiz | Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU’s Racial Justice Program

Mapping Team

Mei Mei Chen | Massage Worker & Outreach Organizer with Red Canary Song
Lyn | Massage Worker, Spa Owner, and Outreach Organizer with Red Canary Song
Fran Yu | Outreach Organizer with Red Canary Song
Amy Xiao | Brown Alum
Arman Deendar | Brown Student
Shravya Sompalli | Brown Student
Elena Shih | Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University

Presented by Brown University’s Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice’s Human Trafficking Research Cluster and The Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.

Register here: https://events.brown.edu/cssj/event/297213-liberation-atlas-mapping-justice-for-asian-