Drug Mules

This innovative book examines the role of women in the international cocaine trade. Going beyond the stock assumptions about women's roles as drug mules, Fleetwood employs discursive and narrative approaches to offer an alternative account focusing on the lived experiences of women involving in trafficking. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with traffickers imprisoned in Ecuador, these narratives challenge contemporary drug trafficking myths and shed light on the hidden world of international drug trafficking. More than describing the reality beyond the hype, this book offers theoretical insights that sit at the intersection of gender theory and global criminology, arguing that women's participation in the drug trade cannot be adequately understood through the lenses of either victimization or agency. A valuable resource to scholars of gender, globalization and crime, Fleetwood situates women's offending in the twenty-first century, uniquely examining gender, structure and agency in the context of transnational crime.