Feminist Participatory Action Research in African Sex Work Studies

Abstract

What does it mean to be an African sex worker feminist? This chapter reflects on two qualitative studies that were conducted with African sex worker groups using the feminist participatory action research (FPAR) methodology in answering this question. It illustrates how FPAR can be used to tap into sex workers’ embodied lived experiences through body maps. It also demonstrates how the methodology offers an opportunity to critically engage with debates pertaining to sociology as a discipline. I argue that the co-production of knowledge together with sex workers using FPAR, the commitment of this form of research to social justice and scholarly goals, as well as the complex and contradictory location of the scholar activist as both insider and outsider are more consistent with the conception of ‘critical engagement’ than ‘public sociology’.