The frame of Nigerian sex trafficking between internal and external usurpers: A qualitative research through the gaze of the female Nigerian cultural mediators

Abstract

The present qualitative study, through a psychoanalytic and culturally sensitive lens, aims at shedding light on the representations of the Nigerian sexual trafficking phenomenon and on the peculiarities of the relationship with trafficked women, from the perspective of five Nigerian female cultural mediators who work in the field of anti-trafficking.A semi-structured interview was developed and analyzed according to the principles of the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis-IPA. On the background of a complex process of construction of borders between the Self and the Other, the findings show that the complexity of the cultural mediation work is higher with trafficked women due to the similarities in terms of gender, ethnic, and cultural identities. These similarities produce continuous oscillatory movements between identification/dis-identification, confusion/differentiation, and admiration/envy. Sexual trafficking emerges as a complex chain folded over itself made by a succession of internal and external usurpers, which mutually reinforces one another, worsening the mental health of

“You are merely a Nigerian prostitute”: Sexual stigma and labeling of Nigerian victims of trafficking in Italy.

“…Equally to what they face through acts of stigma, the experiences of sexual violence and the other acts of violence and abuse that these young women experienced during their migration trajectories (e.g., physical violence, detention, life-threatening events; Orsini et al, 2022) reduce victims to objects. Therefore, this vicious circle of experiences of violence (Tessitore et al, 2022) directly connects to the experiences of stigma, in what Orsini et al (2022) have termed “loops of violence,” whereby “certain groups of women were made particularly vulnerable to abuse” (Cho et al, 2013, p. 797).…”

“…These items are believed to contain the owner’s spiritual aura through which the juju ritualist can control them wherever they are in the world (Nagle & Owasanoye, 2016). During their trajectories to Europe, they often go through very hard and devastating experiences, such as detention in Libya, physical and sexual abuse, and/or watching others being violated or beaten up (Napolitano et al, 2018; Orsini et al, 2022; Reques et al, 2020; Tessitore et al, 2022). These “loops of violence” (Orsini et al, 2022) or this “structural violence” (Farmer et al, 2006), “embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world” (p. 1686), also continue after arrival in Europe, where they are sexually exploited by, and dependent on traffickers.…”

Facing the Traumatic Field in the Clinical and Social Work with Forced Migrants Through a Psychodynamic Perspective: from “Refugee Trauma” to the Clinic of Social Links

“…The bonds seemed to waver, as did the spaces of thought. The operators who experienced the extent of the emotional impact, as often happens in these clinical contexts with a high degree of complexity, a real vicarious trauma (Margherita et al, 2020;Tessitore et al, 2022Tessitore et al, , 2023aTessitore et al, , 2023bTroisi et al, 2021) felt the difficulty in maintaining an identity continuity of the project. In a subsequent group meeting, which brought together all the institutional operators, we returned to this moment, through a different state of mind.…”

It Happened in the Desert, in Libya and in Italy: Physical and Sexual Violence Experienced by Female Nigerian Victims of Trafficking in Italy

“…They highlight these women and girls' experiences of psychological, physical, and sexual violence, including forced abortions without the administration of anesthesia [25]. Research also shows the uncertainty that they experience after arrival in the destination country, how they attempt to craft a new life for themselves [26], and how their experiences are reflected upon by Nigerian cultural mediators [27].…”