How to do (a decolonial afro-feminist) creative action research with a group of street based sex workers in Cape Town

This article presents a case study from a research project that was a collaboration between a group of researchers at the University of Cape Town, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), and a group of street-based sex workers in Cape Town. They represent one of the most marginalised groups in South Africa, framed within criminalisation and a post-colony in addition to their sex work. Our chosen methodology was interdisciplinary action research, engaging with a combination of performance as research (PaR), decolonial Afro-feminist methods and praxis. The hallmark of PaR is that it is layered in the way it reveals itself, that is, the research is not a predetermined map but rather a wayfarer, which makes it attractive to decolonial Afro-feminist research. For this particular case study, we centre a theatre performance that culminated from a module in physical theatre. We worked with a group of eight sex workers who were trained by professional facilitator in physical theatre, which resulted in a performance piece entitled Yeki Hambe: Let It Go which was publicly performed by the sex worker theatre group. This paper centres this production and performance as a collaborative framing of epistemologies rooted in action research that offers some level of dignity to those who are constantly dehumanised. In addition, this research works towards political and social change around decriminalisation and destigmatization of sex work in South Africa as a methodology of emancipation.