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

Join the Simmons Center Human Trafficking Research Cluster (HTRC) for the launch ofLiberation 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 (https://www.aaldef.org/press-release/collective-of-migrant-massage-and-sex-workers-sue-nyc-agency-over-its-refusal-to-release-public/) against the NYC Department of Buildings, and the ACLU’s EEOC complaint (https://www.aclunv.org/en/press-releases/aclu-files-eeoc-charge-against-nevada-licensing-board-discriminatory-licensing) 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.SpeakersSoniya Munshi | Associate Professor of Urban Studies at Queens CollegeCatherine D’Ignazio | Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning at MITAJ Kim | Associate Professor of City Planning at San Diego State UniversityLisa | Massage Worker & Outreach Organizer with Red Canary SongJane Shim | Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s Stop Asian Hate ProjectAlejandro Ortiz | Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU’s Racial Justice ProgramMapping TeamMei Mei Chen | Massage Worker & Outreach Organizer with Red Canary SongLyn | Massage Worker, Spa Owner, and Outreach Organizer with Red Canary SongFran Yu | Outreach Organizer with Red Canary SongAmy Xiao | Brown AlumArman Deendar | Brown StudentShravya Sompalli | Brown StudentElena Shih | Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown UniversityPresented 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.