![]() | Samantha Moore |
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03.07.2024-29.08.2024
Purity, Pollution, and Exclusion: An Ethnographic Examination of Female Sex Workers and their Bodily Entanglements in HPV-related Illness and Intervention in Nairobi, Kenya
Employing a post-colonial and intersectional feminist approach, this project asks the following: (1) In what ways do women who take part in sex work within Nairobi engage in public health programming related to HPV and cervical cancer? (2) What experiences do sex workers have, living on the periphery of the Dandora landfill, with cancer, cervical cancer, and/or HPV and HPV vaccination? (3) How do sex workers view their bodies and the bodies of others in relation to cancer prevention and HPV vaccination technology in Kenya? And finally, (4) how do clinicians, scientists, and community mobilizers who have been involved in vaccination and cervical cancer programming view sex workers and their associated participation in public health campaign and intervention?
The objectives of this research are: 1) to reconstruct the life history and development of HPV research, technology, and interventions targeting adolescent girls and young women for cervical cancer prevention in Kenya and 2) to analyze cancer, cervical cancer, and HPV illness narratives among women who engage in sex work around the Dandora dumpsite area of Nairobi, Kenya.