Dr. Atsushi Sano.
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
The 150th Ph.D. defence graduate at Institute of Social Studies (ISS) is a milestone worth celebrating. Ph.D. researchers are the backbone of ISS, so on the 21st of April 2016, the historical moment was commemorated.
One hundred and fifty Ph.D. research projects mean one hundred and fifty personal stories and experiences, a feat that cannot go unnoticed.
The Institute of Social Studies is an international research institute located in The Hague but is a part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam that specialises in the field of development studies. It was established in 1952, where it was the first of its kind in Europe, at present there are over 100 Ph.D. researchers, with these researchers mostly coming from developing countries with emerging economies.
The 150th Ph.D. defence graduate was Dr. Atsushi Sano who specialised on the topic of Victimhood and Agency in the Sex Trade. His thesis on experiences and perceptions of teenage girls in rural West Java investigated the entry of adolescent girls from rural West Java (Indonesia) into commercial sex work, with a focus on their experiences and perceptions of the forms of injustice they are exposed to. Sano’s desire to research this topic further stemmed from when he observed young girls selling beverages in a Jakarta’s sex district in 2001.For various reasons, it took him 10 years to complete.
Dr. Atsushi Sano’s research revealed that procurement of young women for sex establishments in Jakarta is run and sustained by informal but well-established sex-trade recruiting networks with connections in both rural Indramayu.
Fellow Ph.D. colleagues and invitees also attended the historical 150th Ph.D. public defense and this particular segment of the sex sector in Jakarta.
The study also finds disturbing evidence of the results of well-intended counter-trafficking interventions implemented by both international- and Indonesian organizations. Institutions in general should primarily listen to what the victim has to say rather than executing what politicians deem fit or following presumptions of international donor agencies.
Examiner Dr. Karin Arts highlighted how she would have liked to see more about human rights in the thesis. Interestingly, after analysing the remarks by the young women involved in commercial sex works suggest that their involvement is to an extent, related to the betterment of their parents and family’s economical situation.
Dr. Atsushi Sano’s daughter Ms. Haruka Sano and his father Mr. Masayoshi Sano and mother
Mrs. Yoshiko Sano, came all the way from his native Japan to witness his ceremony. Fellow Ph.D. colleagues and invitees also attended the historical 150th Ph.D. public defense. A reception concluded the solemn ceremony.
