Narrating the Sex Trade

Examining a range of sex trade accounts from state documents, activist groups, folk narratives, and key figures in Polish, Ukrainian, and Yiddish literature, this book applies new materialist perspectives to cultural history, coloniality, and imperiality in the study of Europe's eastern borderlands.

Tracie L. Wilson is based in Leipzig and is a research associate at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. Her recent publications include "Untangling Invasive Narratives: Boundaries, Belonging, and Narrative Agency" (Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2023) and "Emotions of Contested Migrations: The Return of the Wolf across the Polish-German Border" (Arrivals and Departures: The Human Relationship with Changing Biodiversity, 2024).

Introduction 1. Imperial Authority, Migration, and Liminality 2. Tales of Innocents Abroad: Activist Agendas, Contested Identities, and Social Class 3. Stories with Legs: Reemerging Motifs and Transforming Narratives 4. Becoming-Criminal in the Narratives of Ivan Franko and Sholem Aleichem 5. Seduction in the Provincial City: Bodies and Places in the Works of Gabriela Zapolska. Epilogue