A Pilot Study of Contemporary Notions of Sexuality and Sexual Health in Post-Colonial South Africa (360G-Wellcome-208083_Z_17_Z)

In this pilot study, we seek to investigate the ways in which people experience, frame, and perceive sexuality in post-colonial South Africa and how these impact the success or uptake of sexual health interventions. In particular, we will develop an inter-institutional collaboration between anthropologists, a biomedical researcher, and an artist to examine how people mediate between public discourse, received information from institutional authorities, and lived dimensions of personal sexual activity. Key goals include combining the strengths of anthropological research with the strategies of a youth-focused public engagement project to investigate contemporary notions of sexuality and sexual health interventions with a cohort of previously disadvantaged youth in Johannesburg. Drawing on diverse networks of the PI and collaborators, we will also host an interdisciplinary symposium as a way to develop a robust network of local sexual health researchers, facilitate dialogue with government, media, and civil society stakeholders, and identify future potential collaborators. Project outputs will provide a strong foundation for pursuing future research grants to develop a formal, longitudinal, inter-generational study of perceptions around sexual health, which will enable insight into how interactions between such perceptions across categories of difference influence the conception, implementation, and outcomes of national sexual health policy.