A Pilot Visual Project on Sexual Violence Against Women from the Global South: Insights from Nigerian Communities
Future phases will extend this study to Nigerian women in the UK diaspora, offering comparative insights into how sexual violence is experienced and navigated across local and transnational contexts.
As Africa’s most populous country with a significant UK diaspora, Nigeria provides a crucial site for examining how gender, violence and migration intersect in shaping women’s experiences of sexual violence. This ethnographic project explores the experiences and narratives of Nigerian women, both locally and in the diaspora, through a decolonial feminist lens. It prioritizes subaltern narratives by centering their lived experiences, resistance strategies and ways of knowing. This project aims to challenge dominant narratives about sexual violence in marginalized communities and critically engage with the structural drivers of sexual violence across transnational spaces.
A participatory, co-produced research project…
Knowledge should not merely be about communities, but co-produced with them. Those most affected by gendered violence are not simply subjects of research; they are co-producers of knowledge, often holding insights that dominant narratives overlook or erase. Without their perspectives, their stories risk being distorted, diluted, or silenced altogether.
Knowledge Exchange Events with Community Members and Women’s Organisations
Knowledge exchange events serve as a space for collaborative reflection, validation of findings, and the co-creation of practical recommendations. These events are central to the participatory and co-produced ethos of the project, ensuring that survivor voices remain at the heart of both analysis and impact.
Centering the Voices of Locals
“ Sometimes, when a girl has been assaulted and taken to the hospital, she is accompanied by a large crowd and police officers. In such situations, people often speak loudly about what happened, openly stating that she was raped. This public exposure can lead to significant stigma for the survivor. As a result, some parents choose not to report or disclose incidents of rape involving their daughters, fearing that the social judgment may affect their daughters' chances of marriage in the future”. - (AB, 19 yrs)
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