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‘Who I Am Depends on Who I Am Talking To’

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Gender and Mobility in Africa

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Abstract

Many migrants in inner-city Johannesburg engage in unconventional livelihood activities, including the currently criminalized activity of sex work. This chapter draws on data collected from a study which applied a participatory visual methodology to work with migrant women who sell sex, and explored the suitability of this approach as a way to engage with a presumed ‘hard to reach’ urban population. Through exploring ways in which the participants chose to present themselves, we show that combining a participatory visual methodology with a more traditional qualitative research approach enables the experiences of migrant women sex workers to be documented. Participants actively choose to represent themselves differently depending on the intended audience. This raises important considerations for the analysis of qualitative data collected with marginalized—and criminalized—urban groups.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.marketphotoworkshop.co.za/GALLERY/PastExhibitions/2010/WorkingtheCity/tabid/3257/language/en-US/Default.aspx

  2. 2.

    Images have been used in various academic and popular publications, including Research for Sex Work Journal, African Women’s Journal, Equal Treatment Magazine, Agenda Magazine, African Sex Worker Alliance, Sexual Health and Rights Initiative of South Africa and African Media and Diversity Journal, to name a few. The project has also been selected to participate in various citywide art initiatives, including Goethe Institute’s Wide Angle, an event that focused on the use of participatory photography as a tool for social awareness and public practice. ‘Working the City’ has been showcased at the Drama For Life’s Sex Actually Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as several International Conferences including 1st International HIV Social Science and Humanities Conference, Durban, South Africa: June, 2011; International Association of Forced Migration Studies, Kampala, Uganda: July 2011; and the 10th International Conference on Urban Health, Minas Gerais, Brazil: November 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Elsa Oliveira & Jo Vearey

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  1. Elsa Oliveira
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  2. Jo Vearey
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Historical Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Kalpana Hiralal

  2. African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Zaheera Jinnah

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Oliveira, E., Vearey, J. (2018). ‘Who I Am Depends on Who I Am Talking To’. In: Hiralal, K., Jinnah, Z. (eds) Gender and Mobility in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65783-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65783-7_7

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