Elena Samonova completed her PhD at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at University College Dublin, Ireland.
Focusing on a rights-based approach towards the liberation of bonded labourers in India and Nepal, Samonova empirically depicts the empowerment of former slaves. She offers a timely analysis in a period where human rights and empowerment discourses are central to governmental and non-governmental action against slavery. And, from the perspective of the oppressed she gives empirical meaning to abstract concepts of power and freedom and allows for a vivid insight into the understanding of those terms by former bonded labourers. -- Christine Molfenter, PhD Candidate writing on the abolition of bonded labour in India, South Asia Institut, University of Heidelberg, Germany Slavery and bondage in South Asia are among the oldest and most widespread in the whole world. Today, several million people, including children and women, still live under extremely harsh conditions in this part of the world. Yet this is still a neglected topic among scholars. Samonova brings new insights into the lives and conditions of bonded people in India and Nepal, and offers theoretical and practical suggestions to implement appropriate policies in these areas. A brilliant achievement and a must-read. -- Stanziani Alessandro, Directeur d'etudes EHESS and Directeur de recherche, CNRS, France