Empowering, invasive or a little bit of both? A reflection on the use of visual and narrative methods in research with migrant sex workers in South Africa

Abstract

Although migration plays a critical role in the economic landscape of the world, government officials and researchers do not sufficiently include migration and/or migrants in research studies and development policies. In South Africa, many migrants – both internal and cross-border – engage in informal livelihood strategies, including sex work (see Richter et al. 2012). Currently, the bulk of research that is being conducted in South Africa in the areas of migration and sex work rely heavily on the use of traditional research approaches and focus mainly on concerns surrounding issues of public health, with increased attention to HIV (for example, see SANAC 2013; Scheibe, Drame and Shannon 2012; Scorgie et al. 2011). While this work is invaluable, there is a need for research that can counter the stigma that sex workers overwhelmingly face in light of HIV/AIDS. Participatory visual and narrative research approaches – as part of mixed method study designs – that examine the lived experiences of migrant sex workers can provide important insights that ‘move beyond the polarized and simplistic arguments that have circulated in South African about migrant sex workers’ (Nyangairi and Palmary, 2014, 132). This methodological approach makes important and necessary contributions to national and international discourses on migration and sex work (see Oliveira and Vearey 2015). In addition, these methods provide a unique platform where the normative discourses that portray migrants as a homogenous vulnerable and apolitical group of people can be contested (Palmary 2006). In this article, I present and discuss three participatory visual and narrative research projects that have been conducted with migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in two Provinces of South Africa and examine the suitability of these approaches.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all of the participants for generously sharing their time, stories and experiences with me. I would like to acknowledge our partnerships with the Market Photo Workshop and Sisonke Sex Worker Movement and thank all involved for their commitment in the projects. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Jo Vearey who has been an incredible mentor and supervisor during my years of work at the African Centre for Migration and Society.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

[1] The project received ethics approval from the University of the Witwatersrand (non-medical) Ethics Committee (H100 715).

[2] The project received ethics approval from the University of the Witwatersrand (non-medical) Ethics Committee (H13 06 44).

[3] The project received ethics approval from the University of the Witwatersrand (non-medical) Ethics Committee (H15 03 15).

Additional information

Funding

The 2010 project was funded by Atlantic Philanthropies; the 2013 project was funded by the Open Society Foundation of South Africa (OSF-SA) and the Open Society Foundation (OSF) funded the 2015 project. The 2016 Izwi Lethu project is funded by the Migration and Health in Southern Africa project (maHp), a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award.

Notes on contributors

Elsa Oliveira

Elsa Oliveira is a researcher and PhD candidate at the African Centre for Migration & Society at the University of the Witwatersrand located in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is examining the use of participatory visual and narrative methods to understand the grounded lived experiences of migrant sex workers in South Africa.