Kamala Kempadoo

Kamala Kempadoo is a British-Guyanese author and sociology professor who lives in Barbados and Canada. She has written multiple books about sex work and human trafficking and won awards from the Caribbean Studies Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for her distinguished and lifetime achievements.

Early life and education Kempadoo was born in England to Guyanese parents Rosemary Read Kempadoo (teacher and part-time writer) and Peter Kempadoo (development worker and writer).

Kempadoo has a BA and a doctorandus degree in social sciences from the University of Amsterdam, a master’s degree in Black Studies from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D in sociology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. At York University, she has held academic appointments in social science, political science; gender, feminist and women’s studies; social and political thought; and development studies.

In 2018, she was awarded the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality's Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award for her contributions to the field of sexuality studies. and has spoken about how shadism affects the earning potential of sex workers in Curacao.

Personal life Kempadoo has previously lived in the UK, Netherlands, United States, and throughout the Caribbean.

Books Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered, Paradigm, 2005/2012 Sexing the Caribbean: Gender, Race and Sexual Labour, New York, Routledge, 2004 Sun, Sex and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean, Boulder, Colorado, Rowman and Littlefield, 1999 Kamala Kempadoo, Jyoti Sanghera, and Bandana Pattanaik Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights. Boulder, Colorado, Paradigm Publishers, 2005 & 2012

Papers

Kamala Kempadoo, Halimah DeShong, and Charmaine Crawford, Caribbean Feminist Research Methods for Gender and Sexuality Studies, Special issue of the Caribbean Review of Gender Studies 7 (Dec 2013) Kamala Kempadoo and Darya Davydova, From Bleeding Hearts to Critical Thinking: Exploring the Issue of Human Trafficking. Toronto Centre for Feminist Research, York University, 2012.