Decolonised Sexualities: The Lived Experiences of Black Township Women Who Love Women

This database was compiled as part of the NWO funded doctoral research project entitled “Decolonised Sexualities: The Lived Experiences of Black Township Women Who Love Women” under the supervision of Prof. Dr. R.L. Buikema (Utrecht University), Prof. Dr. G.D. Wekker (Utrecht University) and Dr. Z. Matebeni (University of Cape Town). This research project centres the lived experiences of black township women in same-sex relationships in Cape Town and Johannesburg – South Africa. The main question—‘How do black township women construct their same-sex sexuality?’—called for a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data which was collected over a 10 month period between January and October 2014. The mixed method approach generated 209 questionnaires (physically stored at the Archive of the Faculty of Humanities at Janskerkof 13, Utrecht), 34 in-depth interviews, and 18 focus group discussions from Cape Town and Johannesburg as well as 2 Focus Group discussions from the West Coast in the Western Cape. The mixed methods approach I employed was grounded in Utrecht University as well as feminist research ethics. In order to produce both the broader picture and the nuanced subtleties of the lives and lived experiences of the research participants, the approach included a questionnaire that was devised prior to my departure to South Africa. The purpose of the survey was not to develop empirical generalisations, but rather to provide an in-depth understanding of knowledge, sexual acts and risks of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections for black township women in same-sex relationships—the first of its kind to be carried out in South African Townships. For qualitative data, a semi-structured approach was employed for the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, for which an interview schedule was devised. These various methods were employed to bring out subjective meaning, reflection on experiences, and daily lived experiences, as well as to gain exploratory insights into the sexuality, kinship, friendships, and intimate relationships of the women concerned. For data collection, I collaborated with NGOs - The Triangle Project in Cape Town and Forum for Empowerment of Women in Johannesburg. For further description on the methods and data collection, please check in the archive folder - Decolonised Sexualities for a word document titled "data description". For an in-depth description of the findings from this data set, please check a copy my dissertation at: https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/35956