While the body of research on effective interventions for female adolescents who experience trafficking victimization is growing, much remains unknown about literacy practices in these settings. Previous literature on female adolescents within residential care settings includes examining trafficking risk factors, treatment needs, and service delivery systems. To our knowledge, there is a lack of literature on trauma-informed literacy practices within residential care centers for adolescent victims of human trafficking. Through methodologies of walking and thinking with theory, the researchers explored the public spaces of the residency facility with the seven participants, recording literacy events and the participants’ perceptions. These posthuman and post-qualitative methodologies allowed the researchers to analyze the entanglements of local literacy events, cultural literacy practices, and care within one such facility for female adolescent trafficking victims in the Gulf South. To address the purpose, the researchers asked three research questions: 1) What are the local literacy texts of a trafficked youth residential treatment facility? 2) What are other local literacy events in the facility? and 3) What literacy practices are created by the entanglements of texts, literacy events, and the facility context? Participants included the facility’s seven leaders; data was collected in three phases of walking the common spaces. Findings include literacy practices of belonging, permanence, and remembrance; of spiritual guidance; of educational aspirations; and of individual creativity. This research sheds light into the possibilities for caring literacy practices within an alternative, residential, and educational space for recovering trafficked female adolescents.
Gretchen Goode is an assistant professor of education at the University of Southern Mississippi. A faculty affiliate of USM’s Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training, Dr. Goode intertwines feminist, sociocultural, and posthuman theories to investigate literacy learning in a residential facility for juvenile survivors of trafficking.
Sunny Wells, Assistant Professor of Secondary Education at the University of Southern Mississippi, focuses on critical citizenship and educational empowerment. A faculty affiliate of USM’s Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training, her research spans secondary and higher education, as well as residential settings for sexually trafficked youth, aiming to inform practical applications.
Kimberly Hogan is an assistant professor at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Social Work. In 2022, she co-founded the USM Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training (CHRT). Her research work spans the prevention, detection, identification, and treatment of minor and adult sex trafficking victims.
Rebecca Lavigne is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and faculty affiliate of USM's Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training. Dr. Lavigne is committed to inclusivity in education, advocating for diverse perspectives, and promoting the increased value of equitable practices in academic and social settings.
Tommie Killen, a Hattiesburg, Mississippi local, is currently working on her PhD in Research, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment at the University of Southern Mississippi and also works as a graduate assistant. Ms. Killen recently obtained her Master of Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in Fall of 2023.