A pilot study of contemporary notions of sexuality and sexual health in post-colonial South Africa

We will investigate the ways in which people experience, frame, and perceive sexuality in post-colonial South Africa and how this affects the success or uptake of sexual health interventions. We will develop an inter-institutional collaboration between anthropologists, a biomedical researcher and an artist to examine how people mediate between public discourse, information from institutional authorities, and their own sexual experiences.

We will combine anthropological research with youth-focused public engagement to investigate contemporary notions of sexuality and sexual health interventions with a cohort of previously disadvantaged youth in Johannesburg. We will also host an interdisciplinary symposium to develop a robust network of local sexual health researchers, creating a dialogue with government, the media, and civil society stakeholders, and identifying future potential collaborators.

The study will provide a strong foundation to develop a formal, longitudinal, inter-generational study of perceptions of sexual health, which will enable insight into how perceptions influence national sexual health policy.