SOCIAL CLEANSING in the streets of Bogotá...I obtained a copy of this flyer (threatening to eliminate deviant populations from public spaces in the city) from one of the girls I am working with in la Mariposa (the butterfly), a plaza located in the center of Bogotá formally named la Plaza San Victorino.I am currently investigating the implications of this violent discursive context on street girls’ everyday lives and ability to move around and merely ‘be present’ in certain spaces throughout the city....
An important part of understanding and representing the lives of street girls hinges on discerning the discourses surrounding them (i.e., how they are named – street children, street girls, prostitutes, victims [of sexual exploitation], sex workers, etc.)....
Notions of naming and framing the street girl population also raise questions as to who counts as a ‘street girl’?...according to whom?...by what definition? What of youth, transgender sex workers who identify as girls, spend the majority of their days and nights in the streets, and occupy the same spaces as other street girls in the prostitution zone and my study sites?
The attached flyer clearly represents a direct threat to the lives of so-called 'street girls' and other street populations targeted in this recent wave of social cleansing....
What is my ethical responsibility as a researcher and activist in response to this potential risk to the research population?
