Livelihoods as Relational Im/mobilities: Exploring the Everyday Practices of Young Female Sex Workers in Ethiopia

Abstract

Age is now considered alongside other differentiating categories for exploring mobility experiences, yet little work has emerged conceptualizing the im/mobilities of marginalized young people living in particularly difficult circumstances. This article, therefore, explores the relational im/mobilities of young female sex workers in Ethiopia aged between fourteen- and nineteen-years-old to understand how their livelihoods are shaped by the connections between their relations with others, im/mobilities, and survival in everyday life. The article draws on detailed narratives and participatory mobility mapping with sixty young sex workers in two locations in Ethiopia. Conceptually this article moves beyond sedentary and nomadic conceptions of mobility to what Jensen (2009) termed critical mobility thinking, where lives do not just happen in static enclaves or nomadic wanderings but are connected through multiple communities of interest and across time and space. Through these processes, everyday livelihoods are shaped and experienced. Further, drawing on Massey's (2005) relational geographical theory, where sociotemporal practices constitute places in a complex web of flows, the article reveals that young sex workers' critical im/mobilities are relational: Their livelihoods and identities are shaped within and between places based on their ability to move or not. The article reveals that these relational im/mobilities are important for securing work, protection, and accessing services, both within and between places and across a variety of sex work livelihoods. The article concludes by demonstrating that consideration of livelihoods as relational and mobile is central for the development of appropriate interventions.