How We See It: The Transnational Learnings of Girls and Young Women About Sexual Violence

• In Event: Engaging Young People Through the Arts and Visual Practices to Address Sexual Violence

Abstract

Objectives: In this paper, we reflect on how, we, as young women who are co-researchers in the Author project, experience, respond to and use participatory visual and arts-based methods to understand sexual violence, and to identify and develop strategies for addressing it. A key feature of the project is its focus on continuous dialogue between researchers and co-researchers (participants) and among the co-researchers themselves. The dialogue is both context specific and transnational and seeks to understand the unique circumstances under which different young women experience sexual violence. Our dialogues occur through online platforms as well as through actual cultural exchange and transnational visits. This paper critically reflects on the nature and value of these and examines their usefulness for developing a transnational and interdisciplinary understanding of sexual violence and possibilities for change.
Perspectives and Theoretical Framework: Our reflexive paper on our experiences in the project is informed by Swindler’s (n.d.) notion of dialogue, which he defines as “something quite definite, namely, a two-way communication between persons or groups of persons … clearly dialogue must include the notion that neither side has a total grasp of the truth of the subject, but both need to seek further” (p. 1) and whose goal is “for each side to learn and to, change accordingly” (pp. 6-7). We are informed by the belief that in addressing sensitive issues such as sexual violence, there needs to be a firm understanding of dialogue by both the researcher(s) and the participant(s) of research. It is from that understanding that both can take maximum advantage of the encounter and effectively share their perspectives - resulting in meaningful dialogue and research, as well as relevant strategies for effecting social change.
Methods and data sources: In this paper, we reflect on the different forms of engagement as case studies of the various methods the project has exposed us to, ranging from project meetings, digital and arts-based workshops, community and policy dialogue and cultural exchange visits and international internships. We examine the nature and value of the dialogue that each of these spaces enabled and the lessons we have learned from them.
Findings: The paper concludes that the various participatory activities we as young women have participated in, ranging from digital and arts-based workshops, community dialogues, policy engagement, and cultural exchange and visits and internships, have provided us with many and varied learnings. Significantly, our experiences have enabled transnational learning about how we might use the tools not only for understanding sexual violence but also for engaging our peers and communities in critiquing and finding solutions to it.
Scholarly significance of study: Our project and its involvement of young women and girls as co-researchers illustrates how, through participatory visual methods, transnational learning which is long-lasting and reaches a wide variety of communities and spaces to effect change, might be realized. The project also illustrates how, such an approach might bring about well-researched, context-specific and effective solutions to address sexual violence and ultimately, eradicate it.

Author

• Bongiwe Maome, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University