Between Life and Death: Representing Trafficked Persons in Chris Abani’s Becoming Abigail and Justin Chadwick’s Stolen

Human trafficking is a global, highly profitable industry in which persons exist between life and death. Using Judith Butler’s reflections on “precarious life,” this essay argues cultural texts provide sites that open up the possibility of seeing trafficked persons not merely as passive victims, but as singular individuals with concrete agency. The texts challenge readers to imagine and be open to the lived experience of others.