- Collection:
- Spelman College Faculty Publications
- Title:
- For Such a Time as This?
- Creator:
- Dunbar, Ericka
- Date of Original:
- 2019-01-14
- Subject:
- Spelman College--Faculty
African American scholars
African Americans--Education (Higher)--Georgia
African American universities and colleges--Georgia--Atlanta - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
- Medium:
- articles
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- In this article, I argue that the book of Esther is a story which reflects sexual exploitation through trafficking and thus contributes to and expands sexual exploitation and trafficking discourses. Specifically, I examine the imagery of Vashti's deposition after she resists sexual exploitation, as well as the subsequent sexual trafficking of countless virgin girls (including Esther) by the Persian Empire. I focus on the Africana girls who are taken from Ethiopia and other African countries, as indicated by the description of King Ahasuerus's imperial rule "from India to Ethiopia" (Esth. 1:1). I argue that these experiences of gender-based violence in the form of sexual trafficking constitute collective, cultural trauma that captures the physical, sexual, and emotional experiences of sexual abuse and exploitation in this ancient context. By recognizing the conditions of sex trafficking in the book of Esther, we can also elucidate conditions that produce trafficking in our own contemporary contexts. I demonstrate how this narrative illuminates the traumatic and horrific experiences of the female collective and conveys the devastation, gruesomeness, and futility of their fates. This takes on particular significance in light of the traction and momentum that the #SayHerName movement has gained in recent years, as it sheds new light on the sheer ubiquity of sexual abuse and exploitation. Finally, I argue that the book of Esther should be considered as belonging to a genre of biblical horror. The narrative is one that describes and details gendered violence, exploitation, terror, and horror as the girls are kidnapped and displaced multiple times. After their initial displacement from their homes, they are shuffled from one harem, to the king's bedroom, to another harem, while their bodies become object/abject for the king's sexual pleasure.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/sc.fac.pubs:2019_dunbar_ericka
- Rights Holder:
- Spelman College
- Holding Institution:
- Spelman College
- Rights:
-
